some time since spoke of it thus : — " When Mr. Ross, the 

 collector to George Barker, Esq. of Birmingham, was in the 

 neighbourhood of Valladolid, in Mexico, there was brought 

 to him some masses of a plant reported to be of great beauty. 

 They arrived safely in England, and one of them has at last 

 flowered, proving to be this species ; a most extraordinary 

 plant, of large size, of a stately habit, with a very delicious 

 fragrance, although powerful, but with no brilliant colours to 

 render it what we call handsome. Its flowers are three inches 

 in diameter, pale lemon-colour, fleshy, rather globular, but so 

 distorted by the complete dislocation of all the parts, that it 

 would be difficult to ascertain their real nature, if it were not 

 for the token given by the labellum. The latter has a deep 

 brown streak drawn down its middle, and covers over the 

 column like a hood. The leaves of this plant are about three 

 feet long, narrow, deep green, with a very fine glaucous bloom 

 upon their underside. It is worthy to be associated with even 

 Sobralia macrantha in the choicest of all collections of these 

 plants." 



Fig. I . represents the lip ; 2. the column ; 3. gland, cau- 

 dicula, and pollen-masses ; 4. a pollen-mass seen from behind. 



With regard to its cultivation, it is a stove-plant, which 

 should be potted in a compost of turfy heath-mould, mixed 

 with a portion of small potsherds, Water should be liberally 

 given in fine weather, during the summer, and the tempera- 

 ture kept as high as 80° by day, and 70° by night. As the 

 season of rest advances, watering should gradually be dis- 

 pensed with, so that in winter it may be treated like a Cata- 

 setum, that is to say, have little or no water at all for a few 

 weeks, while the temperature is allowed to fall to 58° by day, 

 and 50° at night. As the operation of watering is gradually 

 diminished in autumn, so it should be increased in spring, 

 according to the state the plant may be in ; and the house 

 should be slightly shaded in bright sunny days. 



The following are the specific characters of all the species 

 at present known to us. 



MORMODES. 



1. M. atropurpureum (Lindl. in Bot. Reg. t. 1861.); racemo 



