508 MB. H. N. RIULEY ON THE 



sepals are ovate-lanceolate, with the apices curved up. The lip 

 is narrow and entire, with a cylindrical spur 4 lines long. The 

 stigmatic arms are remarkable for being rather thick and broad, 

 curved over the base of the lip and entrance to spur, and papillose 

 at the extremity. The lip is attached to the base of the column. 

 The ovary is 6 lines in length, elongate, curved, and pubescent. 

 Altogether the plant has much the appearance of a Cj/norcMs, 

 from which genus the short anther-points distinguish it. 



Habenabia Abachnoibes, Thouars, Orch. lies Afr. t. 18; 

 Lindley, Gen. and Sp. Orch. PI. p. 308. 



H. tuberibus oblongis, radicibus etiam cylindricis longis ; caule 

 erecto folioso tereti pedali ; foliis lanceolato-acuminatis amplexi- 

 caulibus patentibus flaccidis ; raceino laxo longo ; floribus parvis ; 

 bracteis lanceolatis acuminatis, inferioribus ovarium superantibus; 

 sepalo postico ovato obtuso, lateralibus ovatis subacutis deflexis; 

 petalis bipartitibus laciniis linearibus erectis acuminatis, exteriore 

 longiore pubescenti ; labello trilobo, lobis lateralibus anguste 

 linearibus acuminatis, minute pubescentibus, medio breviore ob- 

 tuso ; calcare filif ormi-clavato, ovario subaequali ; columna brevi 

 crassa ; antherse apicibus productis longiusculis ; processubus 

 etigmaticis linearibus clavatis obtusis, quam anthera longioribus ; 

 caudiculis polliniorum rectis capillaceis, glaudulo miuuto ovali; 

 ovario scabro. 



Madagascar, Tanala ! Langley Kitching, in Herb. Kew ; Anka- 

 fana, Deans Cowan \ ; S. Betsileo, Ankafaua, 3932, HiUebranAt ! 

 in Herb. Brit. Mus. 



This is, I believe, the plant figured by Thouars as Habenaria 

 Arachnoides. The stem is from 1 foot to 14 inches in height, 

 leafy almost up to the flowers. There is usually a single oblong 

 tuber about \ to % of an inch in length, and a number of simple 

 cylindrical routs. The leaves are lanceolate-acuminate ; the bases, 

 a little dilate, clasp the stem ; there are six or eight on each stem. 

 They are 3i inches long and | in diameter at the broadest part ; 

 like the rest of the plant they dry black, but are paler in colour 

 beneath. The flowers are i u a lax raceme, about twenty in number ; 

 Thouars's figure gives them as white. The dorsal sepal is hooded, 

 blunt, the laterals a little larger, and more acute or deflexed. 

 The petals are bifid, the lobes narrowly linear, the one nearest to 

 the column is the shorter and more blunt than the other, almost 

 spathulate in shape; the other lobe is pubescent along the 



