301 ME. 0. BENTTTAM OX OECHIDE^l. 



in stature, and, as far as known, in the broad wings to the 

 capsule. 



Phreatia, Lindl., including Plexaicre, Endl., contains about ten 

 species from the Indo-Australian and South-Pacific regions, with 

 the foliage of Oberonia, and apparently similar small racemose 

 flowers ; but the lateral peduncles and pollinary apparatus are 

 entirely those of Eriese ; and Beichenbach unites the genus with 

 JEria itself. 



Pachystoma, Blume (Apaturia, Lindl.), as originally consti- 

 tuted, was a very natural group of about eight East-Indian or 

 Malayan species, all leafless, with much of the aspect of the 

 flowering- stems of Pogonia, but with the characters of Eriea). 

 Blume, and even Lindley himself, have since added to it as a 

 section Lindley's Jpsea, which, besides the flowering scapes, 

 produces pseudobulbs with one or two leaves, and the flowers 

 are few, large, with characters slightly different from those of 

 the typical Pachystoma; and the section might well have been 

 kept up as a distinct genus, especially since it has been con- 

 firmed by the addition of a tropical- African species, P. Thomso- 

 nianum, Beichb. f. 



Spathoglottis, Blume, as limited by Lindley, comprises about 

 ten species from the Indo-Australian and South- Pacific regions, 

 separable into two series, distinguished, however, more by sta- 

 ture and size and number of leaves and flowers than by any 

 definite characters ; and I cannot concur with Beichenbach in 

 transferring one of these series to Pachystoma, from which it 

 appears to me to differ as much in the shape of the flowers 

 as in habit. Paxtonia, Lindl., from the Philippine Islands, pre- 

 cisely resembles the larger species of SpathogJoftis, excepting 

 in its perfectly regular perianth, the labellum being similar to 

 the petals. Lindley has suggested that it might be a peloria- 

 state of a true Spathoglottis, to which Beichenbach has conse- 

 quently referred it with doubt in Walpers' 'Annales.' The sup- 

 position, however, requires further confirmation. 



Subtribe 6. Bletieje. — This subtribe of about 50 species is a 

 fairly natural one, and, making allowance for a very few excep- 

 tional species, it is well defined. The leaves of the pseudobulbs 

 are large or long, with prominent veins, often plicate ; the in- 

 florescence, with the exception of two or three species oiPhaius 

 and Bletia, on separate leafless scapes ; the pollen-masses, usually 

 8, are, like those of Ladiese, laterally compressed and parallel 



