FEBRUARY, 1922.] THE ORCHID REVIEW. 35 
AN AUSTRALIAN PARALLEL WITH OPHRYS 
APIFERA, HUDS. 
By COLONEL M. J. GODFERY, FL S. 
T was shown in the Journal of Botany, Oct., 1921, that.cross-pollination 
can and does still occur in Ophrys apifera, and that self-fertilisation is a 
safe guarding provision in the event of cross-pollination failing to take place. 
A very curious and in many ways parallel case in an Australian Orchid is 
described by Dr. R. S. Rogers (Trans. Roy. Soc. S. Australia, vol. xxxvii., 
p- 54, from which the text figure is taken). It occurs in Prasophyllum 
gracile, Rogers, belonging to the Neottiez, a tribe to which our Epipactis, 
Spiranthes, Goodyera, etc., also belong. 
4 
2OLUMN OF PRASOPHYLLUM GRACILE, ROGERS. A C, ANTHER-CASE ; P. POLLINIA ; 
C, CAUDICLE; R. ROSTELLUM; S. STIGMA; L.A.P, LATERAL APPENDAGES OF COLUMN, 
FIG. 6: POLLINIA ATTACHED TO DISC (d) OF ROSTELLUM (MUCH MAGNIFIED). 
The pollinia of P. gracile are transferred by a small beetle, Trogoderma 
adelaide, and cross-pollination occurs in a large percentage of cases. It 
will be seen from fig. 1 that the anther lies behind the stigma, and that the 
_ ollinia are attached to the rostellum by a long stout stalk. The anther 
opens widely, and curves backward, leaving the pollinia quite free (fig. 2). If 
the latter are not removed by insects, their stalks curl upwards to such an 
