IttE ORCttiD WORLt). 



remarked " that cross fertilisation is beneficial 

 to most Orchids, which may be observed for 

 the numerous structures they have for this 

 purpose, yet," he went on to say, " self- 

 fertilisation ensures a larger supply of 

 seed." 



There are numerous hybrids among all 

 European Orchids, such as Gymnadenia and 

 Nigritella, Cephalanthera and Epipactis, 

 Anacamptis and Gymnadenia, Herminium and 

 Bicchia, whilst Orchis hybridise freely with 

 Serapias (see page 2 for Orchiserapias com- 

 plicata), Aceras, Loroglossum, Ceologlossum, 

 Platanthera, and Gymnadenia, yet strangely 

 enough the Ophrys only hybridise amongst 

 themselves, except Cephalophrys integra, said 

 to be between Ophrys apif era and Cephalan- 

 thera rubra, found near Conegliaiio in Italy, 

 but this seems a very doubtful case. It is 

 probably owing to the fact that some of them, 

 for example Ophrys apifera, fertilise them- 

 selves, the caudicles of the pollinia being 

 remarkably long, thin, and flexible, instead of 

 rigid enough to stand upright as in other 

 Ophrys. O. scolopax, the Woodpecker, 

 according to Moggridge, does not show any 

 tendency to fertilise itself at Mentone, yet at 

 Cannes the pollen masses naturally fall out of 

 the cells and strike the stigma. This, says 

 the same authority, is probably due to the 

 insects which assist the plant being more 

 common in one locality than the other. 



Of Ophrys aranifera, Delphino states that 

 it is but little visited by insects, and in 

 Liguria hardly one flower out of 3,000 .sets a 

 capsule, though near Florence rather more 

 are produced. 1 rather doubt his statement 

 for 1 have studied the plants in both localities, 

 in which there are enormous numbers of 

 specimens growing. Natural hybrids are very 

 rare in England, so that when, a couple of 

 years ago, Ophrys hybrida was found on the 

 Wye downs, a splendid district for Orchids, 

 it caused considerable interest. Noteworthy, 

 too, was the finding of O. Botteroni by Pro- 

 fessor Chodat, which was believed to be a 

 new species endemic only in the Jura, but it 

 has since been proved to be a hybrid. 



Linnaeus grouped Ophrys apifera, O. arani- 

 fera, O. arachnites, and O. scolopax together 



to form a single species, which he called 

 insectifera on account of the cross hybridisa- 

 tion between them, but later botanists have 

 separated them and most carefully distin- 

 guished all the different crosses. 



As a rule these hybrids are rare every- 

 where, but occasionally they are met with in 

 great quantities, for instance, Nigritella 

 suaveolens is said to be so common that in 

 the Pusterthal of the Tyrol hundreds of sf>eci- 

 mens may be counted in the same meadow. 



Cephalopactis speciosa (Cephalanthera pal- 

 lens and Epipactis atrorubens) which is found 

 in the Erlafthal, Lower Austria, is of special 

 interest as it shows peculiarities resembling- 

 two species growing in very remote countries, 

 the Japanese E. Thunbergii and E. gigantea 

 from Texas and other southern United States. 

 There is also the peculiar Orchiccologlossuiu 

 Erdingeri, also from Austria. 



It is sometimes extremely difficult to tell 

 whether a plant is a si>ecies, variety, or 

 hybrid ; Serapias olbida is an example of this, 

 and though appearing intermediate between 

 S. lingua and S. longipetala Vergun, having 

 searched in vain for those si>ecies on the 

 istlmius of Giens where it grows, does not 

 consider it to be a hybrid. The isthmus was 

 probably formerly an island, but is now con- 

 nected with the mainland near Hyeres by the 

 salt pans. Camus thinks it may be a fixed 

 cross for many years reproducing itself by 

 new bulbs. 



There is some doubt of another plant 

 which I liave found growing in great quanti- 

 ties at Rapallo, on the Italian Riviera, and 

 flowering in March. Bala figures it as Ophrj-s 

 aranifera variety niceensis ; other authorities 

 describe it as variety specularia ; but Camus 

 calls it sub-species arachnitiforniis. It might 

 easily be between O. aranifera and O. 

 arachnites, for in general characteristics it 

 resembles the former, but in colour and minor 

 details the latter. 



Above 1 have tried to show how extremely 

 interesting these natural hybrids are, and I 

 should now like to suggest that an enormous 

 amount of useful work mig-ht be done by 

 some careful grower amongst other hardy 

 Orchids. 



