90 THE ORCHIDS OF NEW ENGLAND 
played, one must allow. The Adder’s-mouth Microstylis 
carries its leaf near the middle of the stem, and is by this 
feature most quickly distinguished from the other species 
which has its leaf sheathing the base. 
It was observed by a naturalist of Ottawa, Canada, that in 
1882, WV. ophioglossotdes was very common in that region, while 
few specimens of MZ. monophyllos could be found. In 1883, the 
reverse was the case: J. monophyllos was abundant, and only 
one or two plants of the other species noted. This habit of 
appearing and disappearing without any apparent reason is 
another charm of the Orchis family.* 
Our rarest Orchid, if we reject the doubtful Fogonia affinis, is 
the Crane-fly Orchis, 7zpularza discolor, which straggles across 
the sandy woods of Massachusetts into Southern Vermont, and 
probably into New Hampshire, and is scarce west and south as 
well as in New England. The genus, as given in Gray, follows 
Calypso (one would say that fancy needed to call a good many 
intermediate forms back to life). In Tipularia the very long 
spur is noticeable; the column, as is not the case in Calypso, is 
narrow and wingless ; the lid-like anther is terminal and not “ be- 
low the apex,” and the “ 2 waxy pollen-masses, each 2 parted” 
are “connected by a linear stalk” instead of directly to the 
gland of the stigma. The scape, sheathed at the base, rises like 
that of the Aplectrum from one of several connected bulbs, 
and as with Calypso and Aplectrum, a distinct leaf is put forth 
in autumn. The flowers of J. descolor (“ distinguished by the 
blunt tip of its lip from a recently discovered Himalayan 
species”), scattered down the long, angular scape, are brown- 
ish-purple, but attract less attention than the green column, 
which is very much exposed. The leaf is reddish-purple while 
getting its growth, and is smoother in texture and less strongly 
veined than that of A. hyemale, but approaches it in size. 
* The same irregularity has been noticed in the case of A. ceharis and P. vert- 
cillata, 
