74 



OPHEE^. 



Chap. II. 



Fig. 12. 



Disc and caudicle of H. chlo- 

 rantha, seen from above, 

 with the drum-like pedicel 

 fore-shortened. 



attached, and there is hardly a vestige of the rudi- 

 mentary tail. In fig. 12 the. discs of both species, 

 of the proper proportional 

 sizes, are represented as seen 

 vertically from above. The 

 poUinia, after removal from 

 their cells, undergo nearly the 

 same movements as in the last 

 species. In both forms the 

 movement is well shown, by 

 Di'sc^anT'caudicie of //. lii- removing a pollinium by the 



foli,, seen from above. ' ^j^j^jj, ^^g^ ^-^J^ ^- ^^^j. q£ pjj^. 



cers, and holding it under the microscope, when the 

 plane of the viscid disc will be seen to move through 

 an angle of at least forty-five degrees. The caudicles 

 of the Lesser Butterfly Orchis are relatively very much 

 shorter than in the other species; the little packets 

 of pollen are shorter, whiter, and, in a mature flower, 

 separate much more readily from one another. Lastly, 

 the stigmatic surface is differently shaped, being more 

 plainly tripartite, with two lateral prominences, situ- 

 ated beneath the viscid discs. These prominences 

 contract the mouth of the nectary, making it sub- 

 quadrangular. Hence I cannot doubt that the Larger 

 and Lesser Butterfly Orchids are distinct species,' 

 masked by close external similarity.* 



As soon as I had examined the present species. 



. * According to Dr. H. Miiller, 

 Habenaria or Flatanthera hifoUa 

 of English authors is the P. ml- 

 stitialis of Boenninghausen ; and 

 he fully agrees with me that it 

 must be ranlced as specifically 

 distinct from P. chlorantlia. Dr. 

 MuUer states that this lalter 

 species is connected by a series 

 of glradalions with another form 



which in Germany is called P. 

 hifolia. He gives a very full and 

 interesting account of the varia- 

 bility of these three forms of 

 Flatanthera, and of their structure 

 in relation to their manner of fer- 

 tilisation : ■ Verhandl. d. Nat. 

 Vcreiu. f. Pr. Eh. u. Wesbfal.' 

 Jabr^. XXV. III. Folpre, v. Bd. pp. 

 36-38. 



