VARIATION IN ORCHIS MACULATA 163 
it gives its specific name to the early-flowering grass, Antho- 
xanthum odoratum, and to the sweet woodruff, Asperula odorata, 
which imparts its perfume to the Maitrank of the Rhine valley ; 
and, among Compositae, it is obtained from the North American 
Eupatoriim ayomaticum and E. glutinosum. In the Orchidaceae it 
is recorded from the Faham Tea, Angmcmn fragrans, of Mauri- 
tius, and from our British species, Orchis militarise Simla, fusca 
and ustiilata. I should not be surprised to hear of its occurrence 
in O. pyramidalis, or in the sweet-scented Gymnadenia conopsea ; 
but I could not detect its perfume, which is known in the trade 
as “New-mown hay,” in Mr. Hudson’s specimens when I 
received them, nor have I ever recognised it in Orchis maculata. 
I may here add, apropos of perfume as a distinctive character, 
that care must be taken to observe a species at all hours and 
at varying temperatures. I have heard of a scentless form of 
Gymnadenia conopsea. 
Mr. Goode considers the species a variable one and sends me 
one specimen from Maidwell Dales, Northamptonshire. This 
was a slender plant without purple on stem or bracts. Its 
leaves were 4 to 6 inches long and nearly an inch broad, carinate, 
slightly recurved, slightly spotted and subacute. The spike was 
2^ inches long and oblong, and the perfume very faint. The 
ground-colour of the flowers was white, the markings being very 
disjointed and spotty. The spur was rather long but slender, 
and the labellum was deeply three-cleft and spreading, the 
middle lobe longer, but not much narrower than the side ones, 
deltoid-acuminate, and straight. Mr. Goode comments on the 
fact that the pollinia are yellow, instead of the more usual green. 
This specimen seems to me on the whole to be a pale example of 
eu- 7 naculata. 
Whilst hoping that my correspondents and others will 
another year follow up these observations on what is un- 
doubtedly an interesting case of variation, I would call their 
attention to Mr. Linton’s statement that his two forms “are 
seldom found in the same locality,” whilst most of those sent me 
have been growing together. 
It is, of course, extremely difficult to discriminate between 
merely transitory adaptational modifications and those which 
are hereditary and sufficiently fixed for taxonomic use. Rich- 
ness of soil, light and shade, temperature and the hour of 
gathering may well affect height, size of leaves, depth of coloura- 
tion and perfume. Cultural experiments are necessary to 
elucidate these points. The case of Lychnis vespertina and L. 
diurna indicates that colour may be a specific character and yet 
reciprocal exceptions, i.e., a pale variety of a dark and a dark 
variety of a pale form, may occur. Our experience of other 
orchids, e.g., Ophrys apifera, would make us hesitate in relying on 
the relative sizes of the lobes of the labellum as a character of 
sub-specific import ; but, on the other hand, as in Viola, the 
length and widening of the spur are, perhaps, more promising. 
