314 BEES AND BEE-KEEPING. 



tation in this order, which is very varied, is one of 

 great interest, and must be ascertained by an in- 

 spection of the flowers. The anthers in the young 

 blossoms face the style, but before they ripen they 

 turn their backs, and shed the pollen, which is thus 

 in the least likely position to find its way to the 

 stigma of the flower yielding it, but in the most 

 favourable place for adhering to insect visitors acting 

 as cross-fertilisers. The retrorse anther, as it is 

 called, is frequent in its occurrence in other orders. 

 Our space has permitted us to deal with types only, 

 and these would be extremely incomplete without 

 some notice of orchids, which have always been 

 objects of wonder, but have never attracted more 

 attention than in recent years, as their investigation 

 has revealed devices which appear to the last degree 

 romantic. The one example chosen for illustration 

 is a British species, Orchis Morio, which, as I have 

 several times witnessed, is habitually visited by the 

 hive bee, and so here is of deeper interest than the 

 more extraordinary exotics, many of which are large 

 nectar-producers, while all species of the sixteen 

 British genera are of only moderate value in this 

 respect. The flowers in this order are exceedingly 

 unlike those we have previously studied, so that 

 some little attention must first be given to general 

 structure. In Fig. 68, A, we find, as in all common 

 orchids, but one developed anther (a), which has no 

 distinct filament, for this is confluent with the pistils, 

 forming together the column — the part of the flower 

 immediately in front of the bee's head. The anther 

 which we have seen in other cases to carry the 



