AND CKOSS-FERTILIZE THEIR FLOWERS. 



31 



ferent from that of any other of the Orchis Family as to need a separate descrip- 

 tion, but a very brief one must serve, as we have no figure ready. We refer to our 

 wild species ; and first to the 

 yellow ones and to the large 

 white and pink one, Cypri- 

 pediwm spectabile, the Showy 

 Lady's-Slipper. Unlike other 

 Orchids, there are two sta- 

 mens : the pollen is powdery, or 

 between powdery and pulpy, 

 and not very different from 

 that of ordinary flowers. As 

 it lies on the open anther in a 

 broad patch, it somehow gets 

 a film like a thin coat of sticky 

 varnish. The stigma is large, 

 flat, and somewhat trowel- 

 shaped, the face turned for- 

 wards and downwards : it is 

 supported on a stout style, to 

 which the anthers have grown 

 fast, one on each side. This 

 apparatus is placed just within 

 the upper part of the sac or 

 slipper (rather like a moccason or buskin than a slipper), which gives name to the 

 flower. There are three openings into the slipper ; a large round one in front, 

 and the edges of this are turned in, after the fashion of one sort of mouse-trap ; 

 two small ones far back, one on either side, directly under each anther. Flies and 

 the like enter by the large front opening, and find a little nectar apparently be- 

 dewing the long hairs that grow from the bottom of the slipper, especially well 

 back under the overhanging stigma. The mouse-trap arrangement renders it dif- 

 ficult for the fly to get out by the way it came in. As it pushes on under the 

 stigma it sees light on either side beyond, and in escaping by. one or the other of 

 these small openings it cannot fail to get a dab of pollen upon its head, as it 

 brushes against the .film with which the surface is varnished. Flying to the next 



!. ODcidium Paplllo. Vig. 23. Comparettla roEtea. 

 are Epiphytes, or Air-plants, and reduced in size. 



