HABENARIA 25 



like clubs and lie in parallel anther sacs under the 

 overarching roof of the rostellum. At the base of the 

 clubs are little drum-like sticky discs that are so attached 

 that the pair face each othei just the width of an insect's 

 head apart. The observations that Darwin made in some 

 of the English species of Habenaria have been confirmed 

 and illustrated in the blossoms of Habenaria orhtculata. 



Mr. Gibson says: "In our own native orchids we have 

 a remarkable example of the latter form in the Habenaria 

 orbiculata, Large Round-leafed Orchis, whose structure and 

 mechanism have also been admirably described by Asa 

 Gray." 



A single blossom of the species is shown in Plate XII., 

 Fig. I. "The opening to the nectary is seen just below 

 the stigmatic surface, the nectary (n) itself being nearly two 

 inches in length. The pollen is in two club-like bodies, each 

 hidden within a fissured pouch on either side of the stigma, 

 and coming to the surface at the base in their opposing 

 sticky discs as shown. Many of the groups of Habenaria 

 or Platanthera, to which this flower belongs, are similarly 

 planned. But mark the peculiarly logical association of the 

 parts here exhibited. The nectary implies a welcome to a 

 tongue two inches long, and will reward no other. This 

 clearly shuts out the bees, butterflies and smaller moths. 

 What insect, then, is here implied ? The sphinx-moth 

 again, one of the lesser of the group. A larger individual 

 might sip the nectar, it is true, but its longer tongue would 

 reach the base of the tube without eff'ecting the slightest 



