present Monograph. I had expected that after the work of importation had fairly com- 
menced, not only would the species described by Lindley and Reichenbach be easily obtained, 
but that along with these a multitude of others entirely new to science would likewise be received. 
In this respect, however, the results have scarcely come up to expectations ; a circumstance that 
is partly to be accounted for by the difficulty attendant on their importation, * but which is owing, 
I grieve to say, ina far greater degree to the untimely deaths of those zealous collectors, Bowman 
and Pearse, who, when in the very heart of the cool Orchid regions of Ecuador and Peru, 
succumbed under the pressure of their arduous labours. In Mexico, from which much novelty 
was expected, little has been added to the number of Odontoglossa previously known, and 
the same may be said of Costa Rica, notwithstanding the vigorous exertions of Mr. Endries. 
But in these countries it is evident that the genus is not so fully developed as in the 
mountain ranges of New Grenada, Quito, and Peru. From the latter country little 
indeed has yet been received, although the eastern slopes of its Andean chain are probably 
richer in species of unknown or unimported Orchids than any other portion of the globe. But 
we must await further improvements in the navigation of the affluents of the mighty Amazon, 
before we can hope to receive any large instalment of these much-coveted treasures. 
A combination of the various causes referred to above, by limiting the choice of materials, 
has seriously delayed the publication of this work, which I had hoped would by this time have 
reckoned at least a dozen parts. But as there seems to be no immediate prospect of these 
hindrances to more rapid progress being taken out of the way, and as the sands of my life are fast 
running out, I have thought it best in the interests of my subscribers, to make the present 
number the last. The six parts now published will, however, form a volume of convenient size, 
and one which may, as I trust, serve to show how rich New Grenada is in the members of this 
glorious genus. ‘What wealth of Odontoglossa Peru may possess, I must leave some future 
botanist to unfold. He will have a pleasant task, and will probably have doubled the roll of 
the genus as now known, before his work is done. 
During the progress of this Monograph a curious incident has occurred, which may 
deserve a brief notice. When the publication was commenced, the introduction of two particular 
plants—more perhaps than of any others known to orchidists—was earnestly desired by growers, 
these two being the Odontoglossum crispum of Lindley, and the Cwitlauzina pendula of Lexarza, 
The finding, or rather the re-finding of the former—so magnificent were the specimens in the 
Lindleyan Herbarium—was declared to be worth a king’s ransom; while for the latter— 
described as a native of Oaxaca—more than one collector had scoured that province in vain. 
Strange to say, they were already in our grasp: the O. crispum being none other than 
my 0. Alexandre, while 一 as explained under Plate VIII.—the Cuitlauzina proves to 
be identical with the long previously introduced Odontoglossum citrosmum of Lindley. 
Whether all the botanical pressure that can be brought to bear upon our cultivators may suffice 
* Cool Orchids from the interior of South America, have either to be carried across the Andes, where the intense cold of the 
passes is often fatal to them, or to be conveyed by a tedious voyage down the great rivers, where the heat is greater than their 
constitution—often delicate—can endure. In this way whole importations have been lost, including, I am sorry to say, one or two 
cargoes of the exquisite Odontoglossum Warezewitzii (figured in Reichenbach’s * Xenia") which still unhappily remains a 
desideratum. 
