CYPRIPEDIUM 13 



being joined throughout their length to hang as one under 

 the pouch. 



At right angles to the sepals is a pair of narrow, white, 

 delicately curved petals. Below them hangs the pouch. 

 It is a beautiful, hollow, shell-like thing, fully an inch across 

 and an inch deep, and more than an inch long. Spots of 

 •mauve purple sprinkle its inner surface and show through 

 its transparent milk-white walls. They converge into a 

 delicate network of veins that grade softly into a tone of 

 mauve that grows more intense as it rounds over the in- 

 curved arch that forms the mouth. Into this the bee or 

 insect finds its way, attracted by the brighter purple spots 

 within, but when, after licking the nectar from the hairs 

 that line the pouch, he tries to climb up the vaulted sides 

 toward the orifice by which he entered, he finds himself 

 in a trap. His only chance of escape is through the small 

 curved openings directly under the pollen masses. These 

 stick to his coat as he pushes past, and as he tries to enter 

 another flower are scraped off by the sticky brush of the 

 thick, white, fleshy, heart-shaped stigma. 



In some Cypripedia of Europe that are much like these 

 of the American woods, naturalists have found small bees 

 and flies dead in the lovely labellum, because they were 

 not strong enough nor clever enough to push their way 

 through the narrow openings to daylight. Small beetles 

 are sometimes stuck fast by the pollen masses and meet 

 their death. Doubtless we might find such tragedies at 

 home, did we watch the retinue that visit this flower. Swarms 



