In a flower of _Habenaria chlorantha_, described by the late Professor Henslow,[442] the outer three stamens are suppressed, while two of the inner group are present, as happens normally in _Cypripedium_. A flower of _Cattleya violacea_ afforded a similar illustration; but in this case only one of the inner stamens was developed, and this in the form of a small petal, partly adherent to the column. In _Dendrobium normale_, Falconer, not only is the perianth regular, but the column is triandrous,[443] the three stamens (according to the diagram of its structure given by Lindley) pertaining to the outer row. In a specimen of _Dendrobium hoemoglossum_ kindly forwarded from Ceylon by Mr. Thwaites there were three stamens present, of which one posterior belonged to the outer series A 1, and two lateral to the inner _a_ 1, _a_ 2, fig. 192. M. His observed, several years in succession, some flowers of a species of _Ophrys_ with three sepals, no lateral petals, one lip, and three perfect stamens. In this case probably the two supernumerary stamens were petals which had assumed an anther-like character. Wydler describes a flower of _Ophrys aranifera_ in which one outer and two inner stamens were present.[444] I have myself met with three such flowers in the same species. The stamens present were A 1, _a_ 1, _a_ 2. Dr. J. E. Gray exhibited at the Botanical Society of London, in August, 1843, a specimen of _Ophrys apifera_ with a triandrous column, the supernumerary anthers belonging, apparently, to the inner whorl. In his 'Catalogue of the Plants of South Kent,' p. 56, tab. iv, f. 16, the Rev. G. E. Smith describes and figures a flower of _O. aranifera_ with a triandrous column, seemingly of the same kind as that spoken of by Dr. Gray. Mr. Moggridge met with a triandrous flower in the same species, and refers the appearance to "a fusion of two flowers, accompanied by suppression and modification."[445] As, however, no details are given in support of this opinion, it may be conjectured that the two additional stamens were members of the inner whorl _a_ 1, _a_ 2, and thus the conformation would be the same as in the flowers just mentioned. The figures given by Mr. Moggridge bear out this latter view, while they lend no support to the hypothesis advanced by him. Nevertheless, no decided opinion can be pronounced by those who have not had the opportunity of examining the flowers in question. Alphonse de Candolle[446] figures a flower of _Maxillaria_ in exactly the same condition, so far as the stamens are concerned, as in the Ophrys flowers just mentioned. It is curious to observe that in many of these cases the two lateral petals are suppressed.