204 VANDE^. Chap. VH. 



in. spirits, and resemble those of the female in all • 

 respects, but are not so numerous. I believe that I 

 saw the nucleus projecting from the testa, but dare 

 not, as in the- case of the Monachanthus, speak posi- 

 tively. The pollinia are about a quarter of the size 

 of those of the male Catasetum, but have a perfectly 

 well developed disc and pedicel. The pollen-masses 

 were lost in the specimens examined by me ; but 

 Mr. Eeiss has given, in the Linnean Transactions, a 

 drawing of them, showing that they are of due pro- 

 portional size and have the proper folded or cleft 

 structure, within which the caudicles are attached. 

 Thus as both the male and female organs are in 

 appearance perfect, Myanthus harhatus may be con- 

 sidered as an hermaphrodite form of the same species, 

 of which the Catasetum is the male and Monachan- 

 thus the female. Nevertheless, the intermediate forms, 

 which are common in Trinidad, and which resemble 

 more or less closely the above described Myanthus, 

 have never been seen by Dr. Criiger to produce seed- 

 capsules. 



It is a highly remarkable fact, that this sterile 

 hermaphrodite form resembles in its whole appearance 

 and structure the males of two other species, namely, 

 C. saeeatum and more especially G. eaUoswrn, much 

 more closely than it does either the male or female 

 form of the same species. As all orchids, with the • 

 exception of a few in the present small sub-family, as 

 well as all the members of several allied groups of 

 plants, are hermaphrodites, there can be no doubt 

 that the common progenitor of the Orchidese was 

 an hermaphrodite. We may therefore attribute the 

 hermaphrodite condition and the general appearance 

 of Myanthus to reversion to a former state; and if 

 BO, the ancestors of all the species of Catasetum must 



