70 OUR NATIVE ORCHIDS 



like sweet violets. A pencilled note in Mr. Gibson's sketch 

 says, "Odour of red raspberries," but the fragrance disap- 

 pears and gives place to a peculiar faint disagreeable odour 

 when the flower withers. The name is derived from the 

 Greek words meaning snake and mouth. 



The leaves are oval lanceolate, three inches long at the 

 most; the lower one has a slender stem, but the others rise 

 from the stalk. At the summit of this smooth, round, grass- 

 like stalk is a strongly ribbed green leaf-like bract, from 

 which springs the solitary flower, or very occasionally two. 

 It is of a warm but delicate pure rose pink, with sepals and 

 petals nearly equal, and almost an inch long. 



The deeply fringed and drooping lip has a raised and 

 rounded cushion in the centre, which is thickly crested at 

 the lower part with white and yellow bristles. The whole 

 flower, including the column, is bent almost at a right angle 

 to the three-angled deeply ribbed ovary, so that it appears 

 to nod upon its stalk. 



The contrivance to protect this orchid from fertilising 

 Itself and to insure cross fertilisation is very interesting 

 (Plate XXVIII., Fig. I). 



The column lies almost horizontal, and projects over the 

 fringed lip in such a way that when an insect lights on its 

 crested ridge and crawls unevenly through the stout hairs it 

 would strike its head and back first against the anther lid, 

 which fits like the hinged lid of a box, and which is pressed 

 <lown tightly by the insect entrance, and then against the 

 surface of the stigma which lies directly under the anther. 



