THE ORCHIDS OF NEW ENGLAND. 21 
in which the latter is fertilized, as retold by Prof. Gray,* 
together with the figures that accompany the original de- 
scription. Wesee in fig. A, above the entrance to the spur- 
shaped nectary, the two-lobed stigma, a surface so sticky as to 
hold fast whatever substance touches it; dust, insects too 
feeble to detach themselves, or the pollen that should properly 
be placed there. Above the stigma isthe rostellum, which has 
assumed the shape of apouchorcup; and over the rostellum is 
the anther, with its two wallet-like cells, each containing a tiny 
lump of pollen, which may be likened to an exclamation point, 
from its shape and the surprising things it does. A pollinium, 
or pollen-mass, consists of “a mass of coarse grains fastened 
together by elastic and cobwebby tissue,” a tapering caudicle or 
stalk, and “‘a minute piece or disc of membrane with a ball of 
These two discs are enclosed 
9? 
viscid matter on the under side. 
and kept moist by the rostellum. 
“The pollen, although placed tantalizingly close to the stig- 
ma, is incapable of reaching it.’ Nor is this desirable, as “a 
stigma is more sensitive to the pollen of another flower than to 
that of its own,” and the chief object of the peculiar construc- 
tion of these flowers is to secure cross-fertilization. The first 
winged visitor, moth or butterfly, attracted to the newly opened 
blossom, very likely by its bright colors, now comes to render 
aid, and unconsciously pay for the nectar abstracted, for it can 
hardly reach the entrance of the nectary without hitting its 
head or proboscis against the rostellum, the surface of which is 
so delicate that at the least touch “it ruptures transversely 
along the top.” “This act of rupturing changes the front part 
of the rostellum into a lip, which can be easily depressed,” and 
“when thoroughly depressed, the two balls of viscid matter 
are exposed.” If the insect alights on the lip, “its best 
landing place,” it will naturally face the opening into the nec- 
tary as it crawls up, and in Ovrchis spectabilis the sepals and 
* American Journal of Science, vol. 34, II Series. 
