138 THE.. ORCHID .REVIEW. [May, 1922, 
Vanda Sanderiana is placed under the new generic name Euanthe 
Sanderiana, formed for it by Dr. Schlechter in Die Orchideen, 1915, 
p- 567- 
THE POLLINARY MECHANISM OF PHAJUS. 
OTES on the Pollinary Mechanism of Phajus is the title of a paper 
read by Dr. R. S. Rogers before the Royal Society of Australia on 
October 13th, 1921, and published in the Society’s Transactions (vol. xlv., 
p- 264). .Two species of Phajus indigenous to Queensland have been ~ 
accepted by the late R. D. Fitzgerald, F. M. Bailey and other botanists. 
Both P. grandifolius and P. Bernaysii are the subjects of coloured plates 
prepared by Fitzgerald, but he did not live to complete the letterpress, with 
the result that many important points concerning the pollinary mechanism 
have been left in doubt. Dr. Rogers has been fortunate in receiving from 
Mr. C. T. White, Director of the Brisbane Botanic Gardens, a quantity of 
material which enables him to supply many details in regard to these 
Australian species which hitherto have been obscure or uncertain. 
Concerning Phajus grandifolius, Dr. Rogers deals in detail with the 
various stages of development of the column, and explains how self-fertilisa- 
tion takes place in the bud. “It is inevitable,” he states, ‘‘that every flower 
should become fertilised, unless some untoward circumstance should inter- 
fere with the descent of the anther. The only service conferred upon the 
plant by the expansion of the flower would appear to be the rapid drying up 
of the stigmatic contents and the effectual sealing of the stigmatic-canal. 
After expansion, the remains of the four lower masses are still to be traced 
as four rather elastic caruncles adhering to the back of the stigma.” 
Phajus Bernaysii bears a large and handsome yellow flower. With regard 
to the structure of the column, Dr. Rogers says: ‘It approaches closely 
to that of P. grandifolius, but whereas the opening into the stigmatic cavity 
of the latter is V-shaped, in P. Bernaysii it is quadrilateral in form and very 
much smaller. The chief difference, however, is to be found in the attach- 
ment of the pollinia, which are approximately of the same size in both 
series so long as they are uninfluenced by the stigmatic fluid.’ 
The tendency in the genus Phajus to produce supplementary anthers or 
staminodia is well known. Three such cases were observed by Dr. Rogers 
in the material under examination. The staminodes both took their origin 
from the upper shoulder of the wing and represent the suppressed lateral 
anthers of the inner whorl. An accompanying plate shows five figures of 
the column and anther of P, Bernaysii. 
Further information regarding Phajus Bernaysii will be found in the 
ORCHID REviEw, vol. Xxix., pp. 81, 97, 
