56 OPHEE^. Ohap. II. 



that the flowers resembled bees in order to deter theii 

 visits, but this seems extremely improbable. The 

 flowers with their pink sepals do not resemble any 

 British bee, and it is probably true, as I have heard it 

 said, that the plant received its name merely from the 

 hairy labellum being somewhat like the abdomen of a 

 humble-bee. We see how fanciful many of the names 

 are, — one species being called the Lizard and another 

 the Prog Orchis. The resemblance of 0. muscifera to 

 a fly is very much closer than that of 0. ajpifera to a 

 bee ; and yet the fertilisation of the former absolutely 

 depends on and is effected by the means of insects. 



All the foregoing observations relate to England, 

 but Mr. Moggridge made similar ones on the Bee 

 Ophrys in Northern Italy and Southern France, as did 

 Treviranus* in Germany, and Dr. Hooker in Morocco. 

 We may therefore conclude, — from the poUinia spon- 

 taneously falling on the stigma — from the co-related 

 structure of all the parts for this purpose — and from 

 almost all the flowers producing seed-capsules — that 

 this plant has been specially adapted for self-fertilisa- 

 tion. But there is another side to the case. 



When an object is pushed against one of the 

 pouches of the rostellum, the lip is depressed, and the 

 large viscid disc adheres firmly to it ; and when the 

 object is removed, so is the pollinium, but perhaps 

 not quite so readily as in the other species of 

 Ophrys. Even after the pollen-masses have naturally 

 fallen out of their cells on to the stigma, their removal 

 can sometimes be thus effected. As soon as the disc is 



1829, p. 25, says : " Mr. Price cannot conjecture, 

 has frequently witnessed attacks * 'Bot. Zeitung,' 1863, p. 241. 



made upon the Bee Orchis by a This botanist at first doubted my 



bee, similar to those of the observations ou Ophrys apifera 



troublesome Apis muscorum." and wranifera, but has since fully 



What this sentence means I confirmed them. 



