“Man-eating orchids” (March-April). Bernard Witlieb suggested as a possible answer the short story “The Flowering of the Strange Orchid,” by H.G. Wells, in which a man breeds an orchid that overpowers him with its scent and sucks his blood until it is discovered in the act and destroyed by his housekeeper.
Send inquiries and answers to Chapter and Verse, Harvard Magazine, 7 Ware Street, Cambridge 02138, or via email to chapterandverse@harvardmag.com.
In 1954, Gregory Corso moved into Eliot House. How he stayed there is a literary legend.
The Gretel and the Great War author on how the Lampoon derailed his science career—and set him on a literary path.
The popular Harvard English professor published Under Water this spring.
Former Indiana University president Thomas Ehrlich looks back on curriculum, co-education, and other major trends.
The play Spare Parts is a contemporary fable about the quest to live forever.
A roundup of University news from the summer of 2026
