er a trap than a bait. Large insects which
creep into it and duly bear away the pollen masses, are caught and held
fast by that sticky substance when they try to escape through the
lateral passages, which smaller insects are too weak to force their way
through.

Natural hybrids occur so rarely, that their existence is commonly
denied. The assertion is not quite exact; but when we consider the
habits of the genus, it ceases to be extraordinary that Cypripeds
rarely cross in their wild state. Different species of Cattleya,
Odontoglots, and the rest live together on the same tree, side by side.
But those others dwell apart in the great majority of cases, each
species by itself, at a vast distance perhaps from its kindred. The
reason for this state of things has been mentioned--natural laws have
exterminated them in the spaces between, which are not so well fitted to
maintain a doomed race.

Doubtless Cypripeds rarely fertilize--by comparison, that is, of
course--in their native homes. The difficulty that insects find in
performing that service has been mentioned. Mr. Godseff points out to me
a reason far more curious and striking. When a bee displaces the pollen
masses of a Cattleya, for instance, they cling to its head or thorax by
means of a sticky substance attached to the pollen cases; so, on
entering the next flower, it presents the pollen _outwards_ to the
stigmatic surface. But in the case of a Cypriped there is no such
substance, the adhesive side of the pollen itself is turned outward, and
it clings to any intruding substance. But this is the fertilizing part.
Therefore, an insect which by chance displaces the pollen mass carries
it off, as one may say, the wrong side up. On entering the next flower,
it does not commonly present the surface necessary for impregnation, but
a sterile globule which is the backing thereof. We may suppose that in
the earlier age, when this genus flourished as the later forms of orchid
do now, it enjoyed some means of fertilization which have vanished.

Under such disadvantages it is not to be expected that seed capsules
would be often found upon imported Cypripeds. Messrs. Veitch state that
they rarely observed one among the myriads of plants that have passed
through their hands. With some species, however, it is not by any means
so uncommon. When Messrs. Thompson, of Clovenfords, bought a quantity of
the first _Cyp. Spicerianum_ which came upon the market, they found a
number of ca