Page:Darwin - The various contrivances by which orchids are fertilized by insects (1877).djvu/64

44 nature from that in the foregoing species of Orchis. But to make sure of this fact I removed the pollinia from their anther-cells, so that the upper as well as the under surfaces of the viscid discs were freely exposed to the air; in Gymnadenia conopsea the disc remained sticky for two hours, and in Habenaria chlorantha for more than twenty-four hours. In Peristylus viridis the viscid disc is covered by a pouch-formed membrane, but this is so minute that botanists have overlooked it. I did not, when examining this species, see the importance of ascertaining exactly how soon the viscid matter set hard; but I copy from my notes the words written at the time: "disc remains sticky for some time when removed from its little pouch."

Now the meaning of these facts is clear: as the viscid matter of the discs of these five latter species is so adhesive that it serves to attach the pollinia firmly to the insects which visit the flowers, without setting hard, there would be no use in the insects being delayed by having to bore holes at several points through the inner membrane of the nectaries; and in these five species, and in these alone, we find copious nectar ready stored for rapid suction in open nectaries. On the other hand, whenever the viscid matter sets hard by exposure for a short time to the air, it would manifestly be advantageous to the plant, if insects were delayed in obtaining the nectar; and in all such species the nectar is lodged within intercellular spaces, so that it can be obtained only by the inner membrane being penetrated at several points, and this will require time. If this double relation is accidental, it is a fortunate accident for the plants; but I cannot believe it to be so, and it appears to me one of the most wonderful cases of adaptation which has ever been recorded.