248 The American Naturalist. [March, 
A FEW NATIVE ORCHIDS. 
BY MRS. PRESTON LOVELL. 
HOEVER reads that much-berated production, “ The Mod- 
ern English Novel,” remembers the gorgeous young man 
who disports himself in its pages. However else his attire may 
vary, in one particular it is invariable: “an orchid in his button- 
hole” always adds to it the last touch of elegance. This 
gorgeous creature may seem a trifle remote from our every-day 
American civilization, but in this point we may emulate his mag- 
nificence. We may, if we will, deck ourselves with the flower - 
which is usually considered beyond the reach of those who can- 
not build an orchid-house, or seek this latest of fashion’s floral 
favorites in Amazonian forests or the islands of the sea. If you 
are fearless of bogs and quagmires; if you are ready to tramp 
through swampy underbrush, disputing territory with snakes and 
mosquitoes; and if, in addition, you are endowed with what 
Thoreau named “ the instinctive second sight of a flower-hunter,” 
—then let us seek out a few of our wild orchids. 
In mid-June, on the low, boggy shores of some lake, we shall 
find the first-comer, the dainty Arethusa. The flowers of rose 
purple, borne singly on a short stem, have a curious expectant 
air, as if a breath of wind would send them fluttering away on 
their rosy, outspread wings. The closely allied Calopogon differs 
from the Arethusa in its taller growth and brighter colors. 
But no orchid is without marked individuality, and we accord” 
ingly find the flowers of the Calopogon borne in an apparently 
_ inverted position on the stem. It also affords an excellent oppor- 
tunity to study the strange methods of fertilization peculiar to 
this order. Few orchids are capable of self-fertilization, depend- 
ing in most cases upon insect help ; and I have often watched the 
bees coming and going about these flowers, intent only on honey- 
gathering, but unconsciously working out thereby the fertilization 
of the Calopogon. 
