[Illustration: FIG. 122.--Peloric flower of _Calceolaria_.]
Morren[233] describes a form intermediate between the ordinary slipper-shaped corolla and the perfect peloria just described, and which he calls sigmoid peloria. This flower is intermediate in direction between the erect peloria and the ordinary reflected flower. The tube is curved like a swan's neck and is dilated in front into two hollow bosses, such as we see in the lower lip of an ordinary flower; beyond these it is contracted and is prolonged into a slender beak terminating in two hollow teeth, between which is the narrow orifice of the corolla. The colour at the base of the tube inside is as in the perfect peloria; while round the summit of the tube, in both cases, the intensity of colour is greatest on the outside. Now, in a normal flower the deepest colour is within just opposite the orifice of the corolla; this deep colour is also seen outside of the central and most elevated portions of the lower lip. In the peloria the deep colour at the base of the tube represents that which is near the orifice under ordinary circumstances, while the outer patch of colour at the apex corresponds to that formed on the upper surface of the lower lip. On the other hand, in peloric flowers of _Cytisus Laburnum_, _Clitoria Ternatea_, _Trifolium repens_, and other Papilionaceæ, it is the "standard," the form of which is repeated. In the case of peloric aconites[234] the lateral and sometimes the inferior coloured sepals assume the hooded form usually peculiar to the upper sepal only, the number of the petals or nectaries being correspondingly increased. Balsams become peloric by the augmentation in the number of spurs.[235] So when orchids are affected with irregular peloria it is the form of the labellum that is repeated, the accessory lips being sometimes the representatives of stamens, which are usually suppressed in these flowers,[236] but at other times the appearance is due simply to the fact that all three petals assume the form usually confined to the lip, the staminal column being unaffected, except that its direction and relative position with reference to the other parts of the flower is different from ordinary. This was the case in some flowers of _Phalænopsis equestris_ sent to me by Mr. Wentworth Buller. Fig. 123 represents a flower of _Aristolochia caudata_ with two lips, for which I am indebted to Mr. W. H. Baxter.