by which the order is distinguished above all its fellows, can any plead that this result is due to its
ancient lineage, nor yet to the vast periods through which endless transformations are assumed
to have been continually taking place, because Orchids—according to geologic r e c k o n i n g -
are but a thing of yesterday, and have never been found in a fossil state. Yet their constant
companions the Ferns, trace back their pedigree to the earliest vegetation of the primeval
world! To the believer, however, the problem is not hard to solve. Ferns and other
flowerless plants came early in the Divine programme, because the coal, into which they
were to be ultimately converted, had need to be long accumulating for the future comfort and
civilization of our race ; while the genesis of Orchids was postponed until the time drew near
when Man, who was to be soothed by the gentle influence of their beauty, or charmed by the
marvellous variety of their structure, was about to appear upon the scene. There are multitudes
who could bear witness how amply, in their own experience, this gracious purpose has been
fulfilled; while the writer—in whose breast a love of Orchids prevailed from his youth up—
can only exclaim with the Psalmist, " Thou, Oh Lord, hast made me glad through Thy works,
and I will rejoice in giving thanks for the operation of Thy hand."
J . B.
KNYPERSLEY HALL, April 24th, 1874.
ODONTOGLOSSUM NEI3UL0SUM, UNDHY.
CLOUDED ODONTOGLOSSUM.
O. (LEUCOGLOSSUM, Lindl.) pseudobulbis ovatis compressis 2-3-phyllis, foliis oblongis acutLs
basi conduplicatis pedunculo radicali erecto (apice) nutantc 3-7-floro brevioribus, bracteis
scariosis amplexicaulibus ovario duplo brevioribus, sepalis petalisque latioribus membranaceis
oblongis undulatis apiculis recurvis, labelli ungue cucullato carnoso, lamellis duabus
erectis dentibusque totidem anticis, limbo ovato acuto dentato subpubeseeute, columna
aptera elongata. (Lindl. quibusdam mutatis.)
ODONTOGLOSSUM NEBULOSDM, Lindl. Fol. Orch.
ODONTOGLOSSUM MAXILLABE, Lemaire fnec LindleyJ, Illustration Itorticole (1859), f. 200.
Habitat in MEXICO, prope Oaxaca (Karwinski, Galeotti, etc.), circitcr 5000 ft.
DESCRIPTION.
PSEUDOBULBS 2 TO 3 inches long, smooth, ovale, somewhat compressed, 2- or 3-leaved. LEAVES 2 or 3 at the apex
of the pseudobulbs, oblong, acute, shorter than the SCAPE, which, rising from the base of Ihe pseudobulbs, is bent
down at its upper extremity by the weight of from 3 to 1 large and handsome FLOWERS. BRACTS only half Ihe
length of the ovary, embracing the flower-stem. SEPALS LI inches long. PETALS much wider than the sepals, and
like them of an oblong form, waved at the margin, and a little recurved al the end, which is sharply pointed;
both sepals and petals are of clear membranous while, clouded (as the name implies) by a profusion of spots or
blotches of a reddish-brown colour, which extend to nearly half their length. Ln' of the same texture and colour as
the sepals, only that the brown blotches are broader, and that there is a patch of yellow on the claw; its upper
portion is of an ovate form, acute, with the margins very much torn; its fleshy disk is hooded, or gathered into 2
erect plates, with a pair of teeth attached in front. COLUMN very long, destitute of wings.
It was at Munich, in the year 1S35, that I first became acquainted with this fine Odontoglossum having, through
the kindness of Professor Von Martius, been allowed to examine the rich collection of dried specimens that Baron
Karwinski had then recently brought home with Mm from Mexico. Two years afterwards living plants were sent to me
from Oaxaca, which happening to arrive in the midst of that remarkably severe winter 1837-38,1 naturally expected
would have been destroyed on their way; so far, however, from this being the case, they appeared to have sustained little
or no injury from the cold, and on being placed in a stove they soon began to push both roots and leaves. All went well
so long as the temperature of the house did not exceed 70°, but when the winter had passed away and they had to face
the intense heat at which the Orchid-houses of that period were ordinarily maintained, they Iheu quickly lost their vigour
and before a twelvemonth had passed were all gone, victims—like a multitude of other invaluable plants—to our then
ignorance of the conditions under which alone the Orchids of cool countries could be expected to thrive!
I am not aware that this plant ever flowered in this country until within the last year or two, certainly no figure
of it has ever been published in any English botanical periodical i I have, however, found in a French work (the
Illustration Horticole), under the name of O. maxillarc, what is obviously the same as the plant represented in the
Plate. I should myself have probably fallen into the same mistake as Professor Lemaire, had I not enjoyed the
opportunity—whicli he unfortunately had not—of examining the original specimens in Dr. Lindley's herbarium, and
from which that able botanist drew up his description (in the Folia Orchidacea) of the two species. O. maxillare,