9 o 
NATURE STUDY. 
the lip pure, unspotted white. The other two species have 
the lip spotted with purple. The stems of C. multiflora 
vary in color from quite clear yellow to a rather deep pur¬ 
ple in different plants. I have noted that herbarium spec¬ 
imens of C. innata retain the yellow color in drying while 
the others are inclined to turn dusky or dark; a fact which 
may possibty indicate different degrees of saprophytism in 
the two species. 
The few flowering plants in our area known or suspect¬ 
ed to be hemisaprophytes are also members of the orchid 
family, a family which in some respects has attained the 
most perfect development in an upward direction, in other 
respects shows unmistakable signs of a downward tenden¬ 
cy. Specialization has been carried to such an extreme as 
to defeat its own ends and to induce a counter-specializa¬ 
tion of habit, for that is what all these “isms’* we are 
considering amount to. In the struggle for existence cer¬ 
tain species have found themselves so placed in relation to 
other plants that it has become easier for them to maintain 
their hold by becoming to a greater or less extent depend¬ 
ent on other plants or their remains. Now loss of inde¬ 
pendence means degeneration m the plant world just as 
much as it does in human life. As Professor Bailey says, 
“The more a plant depends on other plants, the more it 
tends still further to lose its independence.’’ Very likely 
the coral-roots come of ancestors who were able to make 
chlorophyl and by means of it extract carbonic acid from 
the air; who were possessed of breathing pores, and who 
could produce normal leaves. But our present coral-roots 
have become almost, if not entirely, dependent plants, and 
other orchids, which still have the aspect of independent 
plants, betray in various ways a loss of independence. 
Among these latter are species of Calopogon, Pogonia and 
Habenaria, all of which genera are represented in the 
local flora. Some of these thrive best in deep shade, where 
