INTRODUCTION xxvii 



off anthers that did not happen to be conveniently placed 

 in relation to the stigma ? If there were some exceptions, 

 as when anthers shed their pollen before the stigma was 

 ready to receive it, or the stigma matured before the pollen, 

 were not these "divine mysteries"? 



To prove his theory of cross fertilisation Darwin chose 

 the orchids as his witnesses, the native orchids of England, 

 which are much like those of our own woods. He chose them 

 because they were the "most singular and modified forms 

 in the vegetable kingdom," and he expressed the humble 

 hope that his little work — which is now world famous — 

 "might lead some observers to look more curiously into the 

 native species." 



It was with the same hope that Mr. Gibson made his 

 orchid studies; that an introduction to the individuals of 

 this queer curious flower folk might lead to an intimate 

 acquaintance with the marvellous laws that guide their 

 being. 



We can picture the English seer in science, with his sons 

 and his friends, watching through years the habits of the 

 orchids, sitting patiently in the garden twilight to surprise 

 the moths that visited them; counting the blossoms of those 

 that set seed, where their chosen insects came freely, against 

 the sterility or feeble fertilisation of those that were doomed 

 to celibacy by a net or bell glass; catching the bumble- 

 bees and moths, and examining the pollen masses that stuck 

 to their eyes and hairs; playing pranks upon the flowers, 

 by gently inserting a lead pencil or a fine bristle at the 



