needle, not the anther-hinge as in the last species, but the apex of the column of one flower, the pollinium was instantly ejected. The bases of the petals and sepals are not swollen and succulent like those of M. ignea; and I have little doubt that insects gnaw the labellum, which is thick and fleshy, with the same peculiar taste as in Catasetum. If an insect were to gnaw the terminal cup, it could hardly fail to touch the apex of the column, and then the pollinium would swing upwards and adhere to some part of the insect's body. The pedicels of the pollinia straighten themselves and the anther-cases are cast off, in about fifteen minutes after the act of ejection. We may therefore confidently believe that this species is fertilised in the same peculiar manner as Mormodes ignea.
Cycnoches ventricosum.—Mr. Veitch was so kind as to send me on two occasions several flowers and flower-buds of this extraordinary plant. A sketch of a flower in its natural position, with one sepal cut off, is shown at fig. 33 (p. 222), and a longitudinal section through a young bud at fig. 34 (p. 223).
The labellum is thick and fleshy, with the usual taste of this organ in the Catasetidæ; it resembles in shape a shallow basin turned upside down. The two other petals and the three sepals are reflexed. The column is almost cylindrical, thin, flexible, elastic and of extraordinary length. It curves round so as to bring the stigma and anther opposite to and beneath the convex surface of the labellum. The apex of the column is not nearly so much produced as in Mormodes and Catasetum. The pollinia closely resemble those of Mormodes; but the disc is larger, and its curtain, which is fringed, is so large that it covers the whole entrance into the stigmatic chamber. The structure of these parts is best seen in the section,
