II ORCHIDACEiE 403 



mass consists of packets of pollen grains, fastened 

 together by elastic threads. The stigma, however, is so 

 viscid, that it pulls off some of these packets, and rup- 

 tures the threads, without removing the whole poUinium, 

 so that one poUinium can fertilise several flowers.^ 



This description applies in essentials not only to Orchis 

 mascula, but also to 0. Morio, 0. fusca, 0. maculata, 

 and 0. latifolia, as well as to Aceras antJu^opophora 

 (Man Orchis) in all of which the poUinia undergo, after 

 removal from the anther cells, the curious movement 

 of depression which is necessary in order to place them 

 in the right position to strike the stigmatic surface. 



0. pyramidalis differs from the above group in several 

 important points. The two stigmatic surfaces are 

 quite distinct, and the rostellum is brought down so as 

 to overhang and partly close the entrance to the 

 nectary. The viscid disks which support the pollen 

 masses are united into a single saddle-shaped body. 

 The lower lip bears two prominent ridges, which serve 

 to guide the proboscis of the insect into the orifice of 

 the nectary. It is of course important that the pro- 

 boscis should not enter obliquely, for in that case the 

 pollen masses would not occupy exactly the right 

 position. In this species the spur is too long and 

 slender for bees, and the plant is specially adapted 

 to butterflies and moths. It is sweet-scented. Darwin 

 gives a list of twenty-three Lepidoptera which visit this 

 species. One of them (Caradrina) had no less than 

 eleven pairs of poUinia attached to its proboscis. 



Following Darwin and other botanists, I have 

 applied to the spur of Orchis the term " nectary." As 

 a matter of fact, however, the flowers of this genus 

 produce no honey ; whence Sprengel applied to them the 

 term Scheinsaftblumen or " Sham - honey -flowers." 

 Darwin does not, however, think that moths (by which 

 the flowers of this group are principally fertilised) could 

 be so deceived for generation after generation ; and as 

 he has observed that the membrane of the interior of 



^ Avebury (Lubbock), British Wild Flowers considered in relation to Insects. 



