MR. Q. BENTHAM ON - OECHIDE^!. 283 



Besides these, the best analyses of the generic characters are 

 given in Sir "William Hooker's ' Exotic Flora,' in some of the 

 plates of the • Botanical Magazine,' in the Illustrations of 

 Wight and of Griffith, in the younger Hooker's Floras, in 

 Fitzgerald's ' Australian Orchids,' and in a few of Lindley's 

 illustrated works. I would also call attention to the excellent 

 detailed exposition of the structure of the flower given in the 

 fourth volume of the Memoirs of the Paris Museum (1818), 

 under the title of " De Orchideis Europseis Adnotationes," by the 

 elder Richard, who in this, as in all his other works, was much 

 in advance of his time. 



I now come to speak of the great Orchidologist of the present 

 day, who took up the pen and pencil as they fell from the hands 

 of Lindley, and who, having siuce devoted himself almost exclu- 

 sively to the study of the Order, is now the only authority for 

 the determination of species, especially for those in cultivation. 

 I allude to the younger Reichenbach. No one has a richer 

 collection of specimens than his, no one has more opportunities 

 of examining the flowers in a living state, no one is more 

 thoroughly acquainted with their peculiarities, or has better 

 means of giving us anew Genera and Species of Orchidacea? ; but 

 unfortunately no such a one has as yet appeared, and I cannot 

 learn that any one is in preparation. In his numerous publica- 

 tions he has proposed, modified, combined, or suppressed a large 

 number of genera ; but he has nowhere as yet given any synopsis 

 of contrasted characters so as to give a clue to the principles 

 upon which he would limit the tribes and genera he would 

 adopt ; so that whilst cordially agreeing in many of the changes 

 he proposes, there are others for which I have failed to com- 

 prehend his reasons. He appears, for instance, generally to rely 

 absolutely on floral characters, to the exclusion of vegetative 

 ones, more on the absolute number than on the form and ar- 

 rangement of the pollen-masses, and often to attach much more 

 importance to the calli, lobes, and appendages of the labellum 

 and column than I should do in respect of genera. I trust, how- 

 ever, he may yet give us a clue to his systematic views in time 

 for use in the new part of our ' Genera Plantarum ' now in 

 preparation. 



Dr. Pfister, of Heidelberg, has, on the other hand, taken up 

 the study of Orchidese according to their vegetative characters, the 

 importance of which I did not fail to recognize as soon as I 



