388 TIw Ways of the Orchids. 



crowds his pages with rich, stores of clearly elucidated, care- 

 fully arranged, and for the most part recondite facts. The 

 Origin of Species is always present to his mind : but what- 

 ever may be our opinion of the great theory which will here- 

 after be associated, with his name, we cannot lay down his 

 volume without acknowledging that he helps us to know, 

 and teach.es us to think. Philosophers have often invented 

 hypotheses, and promulgated doctrines, which tended to darken 

 counsel and limit enquiry, which acted as a poisonous narcotic 

 upon the intellect, and placed a pretended explanation, like a 

 barrier, across the path of truth. In Mr. Darwin's speculations 

 we discover none of this evil tendency. They form no opiate 

 to lull us into repose, but suggest endless fields of investi- 

 gation, and spur us on to a vigorous collection and examination 

 of facts. In this way they are good. They may be refuted; 

 they may be swallowed, up in an ampler exposition of ultimate 

 laws ; but whatever their fate, they will have assisted to train 

 fresh bands of keen observers, and they will have scattered far 

 and wide the seeds of scientific thought. 



The stories of the orchids belong to the c ' fairy tales of 

 science/' In the structure of these eccentric plants we meet 

 with startling contrivances elaborately combined to produce un- 

 expected results. In the Bee Ophrys alone has Mr. Darwin dis- 

 covered " perfectly efficient contrivances for self-fertilization," 

 and even then combined with " manifest adaptations 5 '' for the 

 occasional transport of pollen from one flower to another. As a 

 rule, these curious plants are dependent for their perpetuation 

 upon humble members of the animal world, and their structure 

 exhibits a combination of peculiar difficulties with still niorepe- 

 culiar facilities, for the accomplishment of the final act of vege- 

 table existence, the production of a fertile seed. For a detailed 

 exposition of these arrangements we must refer to Mr. Darwin's 

 book, but we will endeavour to explain the leading facts of or- 

 chid history, and just glance at their value in a scientific point of 

 view. In ordinary flowers, the stamens, supporting the pollen- 

 bearing anthers, surround one or more organs of a different 

 shape, called the pistils. When the right time comes the pollen 

 grains fall upon the pistils, and send forth slender tubes, which 

 reach the ovaries and fertilize the germs which they contain. 

 In ' ' all common orchids there is only one stamen, and this is 

 confluent with the pistil, forming the column." The anther 

 is divided into two cells, which often gives the appearance of 

 their being two anthers instead of one. In common plants 

 the pollen, when ripe, is detached with great facility as a fine 

 powder ; in orchids the grains are coherent, tied together in 

 masses by peculiar threads, and " often supported by a very 

 curious appendage called the caudicle" or little tail. 



