36 OPHEE^. Chap. I. 



flowers in the other spikes of O.fusea, and the propoi:- 

 •tion of poUinia remoTed was evidently not greater 

 than in the two in the list. The ten spikes bore 

 altogether 358. flowers, and, in accordance with the 

 few poUinia removed, only eleven capsules had. been 

 formed : five of the ten spikes produced not a single 

 capsule ; two spikes had only one, and one had as 

 many as four capsules. As corroborating what I have 

 before said with respect to pollen being often found on 

 - the stigmas of flowers which retain their own pollinia, 

 I may add tlxat, of the eleven flowers which had 

 produced capsules, five had both pollinia still within 

 their now withered anther-cells. 



From these facts the suspicion naturally arises that 

 0. fusca is so rare a species in Britain from not being 

 sufficiently attractive to insects, and 'to its not 

 producing a, sufficiency of. seed. C. K. Sprengel* 

 noticed, that in Germany 0. militaris (ranked by 

 Bentham as the same species with 0. fusca) is .likewise 

 imperfectly fertilised, but more perfectly than our 0. 

 fusca ; for he found five old spikes bearing 138 flowers 

 which had set thirty-one capsules ; and he contrasts the 

 state of these flowers with those of Gymnadenia conop- 

 sea, in which almost every flower produces a capsule. 



An allied and curious subject remains to be discussed. 

 The existence of a well-developed spur-like nectary 

 seems to imply the secretion of nectar. But Sprengel, 

 a most careful observer, thoroughly searched many 

 flowers of 0. latifolia and morio, and could never find 

 a drop of nectar; nor could Kriinitzf find nectar 



* ' Daa entdeckte Geheimnisa,' tung der Nektatien,' 1833, s. 28. 



etc. a. 404. See also ' Das entdeckte Geheim- 



t Quoted by J. G. Kurr in his uias,' s. 403. 

 ' Untersuehungen iiber die Bedeu- 



