107 



I have seen some that were between 12 and 14 inches in 

 length. 



Spiranthes- Flowers white and very fragjrant. The 

 parts of the perianth are so disposed as to limit insects from 

 obtaining the nectar. Mr. Robertson describes it for Spir- 

 anihes gracilis '^s ioMows: "The upper sepal is connivent 

 with the two upper petals, forming the upper wall of the tube. 

 At the free end these part from a three-toothed upper lip. 

 This is too small to form a landing place for insects, but 

 makes the flower a little more conspicuous. A proboscis 

 about four millimeters long can drain the nectar with ease. 

 At Orlando, Florida, I saw them visited by a bee which I 

 failed to capture, but which I supposed was Anthidium not- 

 atum, Latr., and by Megachile brevis Say. 



The last mentioned insects had two discs with attached 

 poUinia fastened to the maxillary laminae, and I think this 

 is the particular part of a bee to which the flower is adapted 

 to fasten its poUinia. 



But the most important consideration is that when the 

 bee"s proboscis is folded up under the head, the maxillary 

 laminae fall into such a position that the pollinia retain their 

 hold without danger of being disturbed." 



In the Flower-de-Luce {Iris versicolor, L ) the 

 perianth is made up of six parts of violet blue 

 color and purple-veined. The three outer divisions are re- 

 flexed; the three inner are smaller and erect. There are 

 three stamens, one on each side of the stigma; back of each 

 stamen and partly overhanging it is a peculiar petal-like body 

 — the style, the stigma occurs as a thin lip under the apex. 

 Stigma and stamens are protected; the former is larger than 

 the latter; the anther discharges its pollen through a long 

 opening away from the stigma An insect alights on the ex- 



