THE CALOPOGON. 



enchanted forest, where Fays and Genii work their strange witch- 

 ery, than like the plain prose of sober science. 



Among the simplest of these is the mechanism of the Cypri- 

 pedium, already described, and of the Calopogon, now under 

 notice. If now you study the flower, or Mr. Sprague's admirable 

 portrait of it, you will perceive two floral parts, not regular petals 

 springing from the centre of it. The one which stands up per- 

 pendicularly, elegantly bearded with white and yellow hairs upon 

 the inside, hinged at the bottom and widened or winged at top, 

 is called the lip or labellum. The other, which lies down hori- 

 zontally, also widened or winged near its extremity, is called the 

 column, and bears at its extreme end both the stigma and the 

 anther. The labellum will often be found bent down toward, 

 often almost resting upon, the column. 



The Calopogon has but one anther, which is two-lobed and 

 bears four pollen masses. The anther is a thin-walled cup, 

 hinged at its back with the extreme end tissues of the col- 

 umn. It lies in a little hollow, and faces inward toward a 

 thin partition-wall which is raised up at that point across the 

 axis of the column. The stigma is on the other surface of 

 this partition, and, of course, still nearer to the centre of the 

 flower. The ripened anther, when touched by a body moving 

 in a direction away from the centre of the flower, will roll 

 upward upon its hinge with the greatest possible ease, expos- 

 ing its pollen masses to contact with the disturbing body; 

 and contact means that they shall be carried away captive, 

 for they will certainly adhere. 



Now the stigmatic surface, which, as just mentioned, lies 

 on the other side of the wall that closes the mouth of the 



