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170 PBOrESSOE LINBLEX'S CONTEIBUTIONS TO 



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usual in the genus — in Sp, gemmipara it is pear-shaped, and there 

 is scarcely a trace of a contraction, as Mr. Sowerby has very well 

 shown in his figure. In Sp, cernua the sepals and petals have 

 very little cohesion, are long and narrow, and the lateral sepals 

 are almost acute — ^ia 8p, gemmipara^ on the contrary, . their co- 

 hesion is great, while the sepals are almost ovate and remarkably 

 blunt. Moreover, while in 8p. cernua the lip is not much broader 

 at the base than apex, has the basal calli on the very edge, and is 

 covered externally wdth coarse hairs, — >S^. gemmipara has the hp 

 nearly, if not quite, twice as broad at the base as apex, has the 

 calli distinctly intramarginal, and has no hairs externally, as far as 

 I can discover ; Mr. Babiagton, indeed, describes it as glandular 

 externally, a circumstance that escaped the observation of Mr. 

 Sowerby, and which might easily be overlooked by others, the 

 only glands I can make out being minute points just visible under 

 a half-iach simple lens. 



I therefore think the identification of 8p. gemmipara with 8p. 

 cernua is to be regarded as a mistake, and that the former must 

 be admitted as a perfectly distinct species, peculiar, as far as is at 

 present known, to a small district in Ireland. In my view of the 

 affinities of the species, it is much nearer 8p. tsstivdlis than cernua, 

 although distinct from the former by its dense 3-rowed spike, leafy 

 stem scarcely longer than the-radical leaves, short pyriform ovary, 

 and very broad base to the lip. 



Contributions to the Orchidology of India. — No. 1. 

 By Professor LimoiiET, P.R.S., F.L.S. &c. 



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[Read January 20tli, 1857.] 



The materials out of which the following observations proceed are 

 principally derived from the highly important collections formed 

 by Drs. J. D. Hooker and Thomas Thomson, who, with rare libe- 

 rality, have placed everything they possess, bearing on the present 

 subject, at my disposal. But in addition to such resources, many 

 others must be mentioned, especially the Burma and Khasia and 

 Malacca plants sent me by the lamented Griffith, the Indian col- 

 lections in the Herbarium of the Museum of Natural History, 

 Paris, a fine set dried by Mr. Thomas Lobb while in the service 

 of our great nurserymen the Messrs. Veitch, many Ceylon plants 

 from Mr. Thwaites, the late Col. Champion and others, Cuming's 



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