to convert O. Alexandre into O. crispum, or change O. citrosmum into O. pendulum, is an 
extremely doubtful question, so strong is the hold that the erroneous names have already secured 
on the public mind. In the parallel case of Wellingtonia, that popular Conifer—though now 
almost universally admitted to be a Seguoia—remains Wellingtonia still, and seems likely to do 
so for all time to come. 
The range of the genus Odontoglossum, as may be gathered from the descriptions attached 
to the various Plates, is of a peculiar character, being at once restricted and extensive. It is 
restricted, for it never leaves the Andes, and it is extensive, for it is found in all parts of that 
vast mountain-chain, from the confines of Florida to the frontiers of Chili. As yet no species has 
ever been met with at a lower elevation than 2500 feet above the sea-level, nor, with the exception 
of O. hastilabium, has any Odontoglossum been known to descend so low ;—the most usual 
altitude being 5-6000 feet, though a higher point is often reached. Like the humming-birds 
which frequent the same mountains, and vie with them in beauty, nearly all the Odontoglossa are 
exceedingly local, and in this way two of the most beautiful species, e.g., O. vexillarium and O. 
Roezlii, eluded discovery for many years, even in a region supposed to be well explored by collectors. 
As to the botanical limits of the genus, I must needs confess that they are exceedingly 
difficult to fix. It is as true now as when Professor Lindley first made the observation to me, that 
« The more we build up the partition walls between Odontoglossum, Oncidium, &c., the more the 
species break them down.” Certainly no one at first sight would suppose Odontoglossum 
cariniferum was anything but an Oncidium, nor Oncidium macranthum other than an Odonto- 
glossum. Indeed, I must own to a suspicion that ultimately both these genera, together with 
Miltonia, Mesospinidium, Aspasia, and possibly one or two others, may come to be regarded 
merely as sub-genera, But this difficult question is safest left in Professor Reichenbach's far 
abler hands. At the same time, it is not to be denied that there is such a peculiar look about 
the Odontoglossa, that even a non-scientific observer has seldom any difficulty in at once 
referring most of the species to their true position. 
One other matter remains to which I must very briefly advert. Mr. Darwin’s fascinating 
work on the “ Fertilization” of Orchids has led many persons to suppose that this beautiful tribe 
lends an exceptional amount of support to the theory with which that ingenious writer's name is 
so prominently associated, but there could scarcely be a greater mistake. Not only is the theory 
in question utterly rejected by Professor Reichenbach, the facile princeps of living orchidists, 
but the greater our knowledge of the order, the less countenance does it seem to yield to the 
Darwinian view. We have now become perfectly well acquainted with all the genera—we 
might almost say with all the species 
that belong to particular countries, but it is in these 
that the limits of variation between the different forms are most distinctly defined; in these, 
too, the great principle of unity in diversity is most conspicuous—the genera holding aloof from 
each other, and even the species keeping themselves distinct, although the Orchid mark is un- 
mistakeably stamped upon all alike. Mr. Gould has remarked, in his great work on the 
“ Trochilide, that the Darwinian theory derives no support from them, and the same may be 
safely affirmed of Orchids, which—we are now speaking of America—are the humming-birds’ con- 
stant associates. Neither, while we contemplate the marvellous and inexhaustible variety of form 
