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136
My Studio Neighbors
·
W. Hamilton Gibson
99
The
above
work
by
Darwin
was
mostly
concerned
with
foreign
species,
generally
under
artificial
cultivation,
and
so
startling
were
the
disclosures
concerning
these
hitherto
sphinx-like
floral
beings
that
a
most
extensive
bibliography
soon
attested
the
widespread
inspiration
and
interest
awakened
by
its
pages.
But
it
is
by
no
means
necessary
to
visit
the
tropics
or
the
conservatory
for
examples
of
these
wonders.
Our
own
Asa
Gray,
one
of
Darwin's
instant
proselytes,
was
prompt
to
demonstrate
that
the
commonest
of
our
native
American
species
might
afford
revelations
quite
as
astonishing
as
those
exotic
species
which
Darwin
had
described.
During
a
period
of
many
years
the
writer
has
devoted
much
study
to
our
native
species
of
orchids
from
this
evolutionary
stand-point
of
their
cross-fertilization
tendencies.
Of
the
following
examples,
selected
from
his
list,
some
are
elaborations
of
previous
descriptions
of
Gray
and
others,
though
pictorially
and
descriptively
the
result
of
direct
original
study
from
nature;
others
are
from
actual
observation
of
the
insects
at
work
on
the
flowers;
and
others
still,
original
demonstrations
based
upon
analogy
and
the
obvious
intention
of
the
floral
construction,
the
action
of
the
insect--its
head
or
tongue--having
been
artificially
imitated
by
pins,
bristles,
or
other
probe-like
bodies.
How
many
an
enthusiastic
flower-hunter
has
plucked
his
fragrant
bouquet
of
the
beautiful
Arethusa,
in
its
sedgy
haunt,
without
a
suspicion
of
the
beautiful
secret
which
lay
beneath
its
singular
form!
Indeed,
how
many
a
learned
botanist,
long
perfectly
familiar
with
its
peculiarities
of
shape
and
structure,
has
been
entirely
content
with
this
simple
fact,
nor
cared
to
seek
further
for
its
interpretation!
But
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