THE ORCHIDS. 



319 



kinds assume to living things, called "minicry." The Bee is represented in the velvety 

 Bee Orchis (Ophrys apifera), and there are Fly, Man, and Frog Orchises, so named 

 from their resemblance to the things indicated by the distinctive names. Sometimes one 

 must tax the imagination considerably to discern any likeness between flower or fly, frog, 

 or the human form, but generally the mimicry is startlingly real, even amongst the hardy 

 species, but more so in the tropical Orchids, the Butterfly Orchids (Oncidium Papilio), 

 ihe Dove Orchid (Peristeria elata), or the swan-like Cycnoches pentadactylon and moth- 

 shaped Phalcemopsis. Poised upon slender stems, as if some gaudy butterfly with expanded 

 wings, is the flower of O cidium Papilio, and we believe the purpose of this great 

 resemblance to living things is to coax the insects, or whatever the subject may be, to 

 fertilise the flower — a wonderful provision of Nature to promote seed-bearing for the 

 perpetuation of the species. 



The beginner in Orchid culture, or those to whom the mysteries of plant life are a 

 sealed book, would probably create a hundred families from the great Orchid genus, 

 because of the strangely different form of the various species. There seems little affinity 

 between a Cattleya and a Cycnoches, or between a Cypripedium and a Dendrobium, 

 though close relationship exists, as disclosed by an examination of the flowers; but as that 

 is of scientific interest only, it is not a subject for lengthy disquisition in this work. The 

 most wonderful portion of an Orchid flower is the lip, or, as the botanist names it, the 

 labellum, which assumes distinct shapes according to the genus to which the plant 

 belongs. Thus in the Cypripedium, or Lady's Slipper, it is of a pouch-like form, in the 

 Cattleya petal-like and the seat of colour, and, again, in the strange Angraecums prolonged 

 into a slender spur. Sometimes it is attached so lightly to the main part of the flower 

 that it moves with the slightest breath of air, and again it is cut up into delicate filaments, 

 in each family some distinct form being revealed. Much of the colour in the flower is 

 concentrated in the lip, and this diversity of form and resplendent colouring is Nature's 

 way of securing fertilisation, colour signals to attract insect life to effect seed formation. 

 Readers who wish to understand fertilisation of Orchids should consult Darwin's great 

 work' upon the subject, a work' of intense interest to all who care to know the mysteries 

 of the vegetable kingdom. 



This leads one to write of hybridisation, for much of the popularity of the Orchid 

 is due to new and wonderful crosses effected by the hybridist and shown at the meetings 

 of the Royal Horticultural Societv, which sometimes settles long-standing disputes as to 

 the parentage of natural hybrids, that is, Orchids crossed by insect agency in their 

 native haunts. The Orchid family is one of the most fascinating in the world of 

 flowers; interesting not for their colour, form, or perfume alone, but for the wonderful 

 ways adopted to effect fertilisation by insect life. 



In these days plants imported from over the seas arrive almost as fresh as when 

 shipped for transport to the English nurseries and auction rooms, but when Orchid cultiva- 

 tion and collecting were in their infancy losses were tremendous amongst the Epiphytes 

 in particular, that is, those kinds which have their dwelling upon rocks or in the branches 

 of trees, living upon the moisture in the atmosphere. Eveiy species, everything, 

 indeed, that was caled an Orchid, was supposed to require tropical treatment, to be 

 bathed in hot close air and perpetual moisture. We know, of course, that such treat- 

 ment is absolutely wrong. Many species are almost hardy, natives of mountain-tops 

 and on the fringe of the snow line, as in the case of many of the beautiful Odontoglossums. 

 Although it is only within the last thirty years that Orchid culture has formed any 

 strong part of English horticultural pursuits, species have been long known to science, 

 and the Vanilla, amongst the first of th ise Orchids grown in an English hothouse, was 

 known to Miller, as it is mentioned in the second edition of that author's " Dictionary of 

 Gardening," published in 1768, with several Epidendrums. Miller states, writing of 



