MB. G. BENTHAM ON OBCHIDEjE. 299 



At the best the character connects species in other respects 

 very dissimilar. 5. Malachadenia, Lindl., is a Brazilian species 

 with the brachia of the column long and reflexed, and " a soft 

 cubical gland to the pollen-masses," which is most probably a 

 mass of viscum exuded from the rostellum. 6. Bulbophyllaria, 

 Eeichb. f., was originally founded on Bulbophyllum bracteolatum, 

 Lindl. (in which I should include Pleurothallis pachyrhyncha, A. 

 Eich., Bulbophyllum sordidum, Lindl., and probably also Bulbo- 

 phyllaria CErstedii, Eeichb. f.), a widely spread tropical- American 

 species with the rhachis of the raceme thickened as in B. clava- 

 tum, Thou., and the ovary bearing at the top a little tooth or 

 bract on each side of the perianth between the dorsal and lateral 

 sepals. Bidactyle rneridensis, Lindl. (including D. exalata, Lindl.), 

 is a closely allied species with the rhachis scarcely thickened, and 

 the teeth or bracteoles very small, though certainly present. 

 Eeichenbach has since added to the supposed genus the Bulbo- 

 phyllum bisetum, Lindl. (B. cirrhopetaloides, Griff.), an East- 

 Indian species with a totally different habit, the rhachis not 

 thickened, but the teeth or bracteoles of the ovary linear-setaceous 

 and nearly as long as the perianth, and the B. clavatum, Thou., 

 from Madagascar, with the thickened rhachis, but no teeth to 

 the ovary, at least in our specimens. Whatever be the homo- 

 logy of these curious appendages to the ovary, it is evident that 

 they are here of specific value only, and have not the more 

 important character of those which distinguish Epistephium from 

 Sobralia. 7. Odontostylis, v. Breda, and 8. Oxysepalum, "Wight, 

 must be considered rather as a series of species than as sections, 

 distinguished by peculiarities of habit more or less conspicuous 

 in about twenty species of the former and six of the latter, all 

 Asiatic, unless the Brazilian B. Begnelii, Eeichb. f., be referrible 

 to Odontostylis. 9. Cochlia, Blume, only known from the short 

 characters in the ' Bijdragen,' may probably be a Bulbophyllum of 

 that umbellate or capitate series which in some measure con- 

 nects the genus with Cirrhopetalum, but has the more regular 

 sepals of the Bulbophylla. 10. Lyrcea, Lindl., was founded on 

 A. Eichard's figure of B. prismaticum, Thou., which is evidently 

 faulty ; and Blume has restored the plant to Bulbophyllum. 



Cirrhopetalum, Lindl. (Zygoylossum,~Remw.), consists of about 

 30 species from the Indo- Australian and Mascarene regions, 

 closely connected with Bulbophyllum, and united with it by Blume 

 and sometimes by Eeichenbach, who, however, retains it as a 



