316 THE ORCHID REVIEW. [Ocrozer, 1914. 
PHOTOGRAPHIC illustration of Catasetum splendens appeared in 
The Field of September 12th last, together with the following note :— 
Darwin, in his Fertilisation of Orchids, has a most interesting chapter on 
Catasetums, ‘‘ the most remarkable of all Orchids.’’ Nature has, he says, 
endowed them with sensitiveness, and with the remarkable power of 
forcibly ejecting their pollen to a distance. When certain hair-like organs 
are touched by an insect the pollinia are shot out like an arrow, which is 
not barbed, but has a blunt and excessively adhesive point. The insect, 
disturbed by so sharp a blow, or after having eaten its fill, flies sooner or 
later to a female plant, and whilst standing in the same position as it did 
when struck, the pollen-bearing end of the arrow is inserted into the 
stigmatic cavity, and a mass of pollen is left on its viscid surface—a most 
wonderful contrivance in a flower for the sole purpose of pollination. 
Catasetum is a large genus, and shows a wide range of variation. It is 
also remarkable in having distinct male and female flowers. The plant we 
figure is a natural hybrid between two of the most striking species, namely, 
C. macrocarpum and C. Bungerothii, both natives of South America. It 
was introduced into cultivation about twenty years ago from Venezuela by 
M. Linden, the well-known Belgian nurseryman,-and it caused some excite- 
ment among botanists owing to the variation in size, form, and colour of 
flower exhibited by the individual plants. They have since mostly gone 
out of cultivation, for Catasetums are not easy to keep in health. There 
is, however, a very good collection of them at Kew, where the plant here _ 
represented has flowered recently. Writing of this hybrid and its various 
forms when they were first introduced, Mr. R. A. Rolfe, the orchidologist, 
said there were a number of very remarkable forms representing . 
transition series between two common and very distinct species, with 
which they were found growing. One wonders what happened to the 
plants of this hybrid that were not interfered with by the collector, whether 
they have reproduced their kind, or have given rise to what might 
reasonably be called a distinct species. The genus ought to be specially 
interesting to Mendelians. It certainly is of more than ordinary interest 
morphologists, and is not without attractions for gardeners. 
CATASETUM SPLENDENS. 
The note serves to recall a very remarkable group which was exhibited 
at a meeting of the R.H.S. in November, 1894, by Messrs. mere 
Brussels, and to which a Silver Banksian Medal was given. It contain 
plants of what were regarded as four new species, as well as examples of C- 
macrocarpum and C. Bungerothii, all of which were believed to have com 
