Marcu, 1908.] THE ORCHID REVIEW. gt 
the two. At the base of the column, and just over the bucket, may be 
seen two horns. And now comes the remarkable economy of the flower. When 
the sepals expand those horn-like bodies are seen to be glands, which exude 
liquid, drop by drop, and this collects in the bucket beneath until it is full 
up to the narrow opening just mentioned. The flower possesses a strong per- 
fume and quickly attracts a particular kind of bee which lives in the same 
‘district. These bees alight on the fleshy parts of the flower, and fall or jostle 
each other over into the water beneath. Now the sides of the bucket are very 
slippery, and the bees are unable to climb out that way, but espying the 
narrow opening they make for that, and the lip being slightly pliable, they force 
their way through. The first one to escape invariably brings away the pollen 
masses onits back, and being by no means deterred by its involuntary bath» 
it hurries off to another flower, where the process is repeated. This time 
the bee has the load of pollen on its back, and on again reaching the opening 
and forcing its way through, this pollen comes in contact with the stigma, 
which is also close to the opening, and is sufficiently viscid to hold it there, 
while the bee escapes, and thus fertilisation is effected. Here is a remark- 
ably complex set of arrangements to serve such an apparently simple 
purpose. It sounds rather like romance, but it has been observed over 
and over again, and may be seen whenever the plants bloom in their 
native homes. The flowers behave in precisely the same way in our Orchid 
houses at home, but unfortunately the bees are absent. 
Compare now Neuwiedia Lindleyi, the most primitive of existing 
Orchids (photograph thrown on screen). It is difficult at first sight to see 
what the two plants have in common. In this case the monocotyledonous 
structure is more easily traced. The perianth is nearly regular, though 
turned to one side, and there are three sepals, three alternating petals, 
three linear stamens on short filaments, and a slender style, with a three- 
lobed stigma. The stamens and style are united at the base, and the 
addition of three more stamens would complete the typical monocotyledonous 
structure—five whorls of three parts each. Three stamens, however, are 
missing from the front of the flower (not one of the whorls). The three 
stamens present are the lateral pair of the inner staminal whorl, and the 
median stamen of the outer whorl. It may help to a clearer conception of 
the case if I say that the two former are also the perfect stamens of Cypri- 
pedium, and the latter the single perfect stamen of the great suborder 
Monandrae, but which in Cypripedium is modified into a shield-shaped 
staminode. The anthers recall those of some ordinary Amaryllidaceous 
plant in shape, and the pollen grains are simple, and dry, so that in this 
respect the plant has scarcely begun to be ae Orchid. The stigma Is 
equally: three-lobed. The seeds have the typical Orchiderdons structure, 
and the species is terrestrial, with yellow flowers. It is of Malayan origin. 
