were purchased by Messrs. Veitch and Son, in whose esta- 

 blishment at Chelsea one of them flowered for the first time 

 in the autumn of 1865. To their liberality I am myself in- 

 debted for a specimen that subsequently flowered at Kny- 

 persley and which was (in the autumn of 1866) exhibited 

 at one of the Tuesday meetings of the Royal Horticultural 

 Society at South Kensington. From this Mr. Fitch's draw- 

 ing was made. Beautiful as the latter is, it probably gives 

 but a poor idea of what the plant will ultimately become, 

 for the native specimens in Messrs. Veitch's possession have 

 some of them borne as many as five or six flowers on a scape. 



Utterly unlike as are the nankeen and purple colours of 

 our plant to those of every other Cattleya, still as colour 

 alone is scarcely considered a sufficient botanical distinction, 

 and as in the mere form of its flowers C. Dowiana comes 

 very near to some of the many varieties of C. Mossice, there 

 was for a while some doubt on my mind as to whether it might 

 not eventually have itself to be ranked among the number, 

 especially as C. pallida, which has been shown (see Tab. 5504) 

 to be undistinguishable from other forms of C. labiata, has 

 been found by Hartweg as far north as Oaxaca. I have 

 lately however seen a letter from Messrs. Low's Costa Rica 

 collector, who, after announcing his discovery of what he 

 then supposed to be a new Cattleya, goes on to describe the 

 colours, which are precisely those of C. Dowiana, thus 

 proving at all events that the latter is not given to sport or 

 change, and I am therefore now fully disposed to believe 

 that it is essentially distinct from all other members of the 

 genus. Be this as it may, it is a worthy plant to bear the 

 name of a gallant officer in the American Packet service, 

 the well-known Captain J. M. Dow, to whom I have great 

 pleasure in dedicating it, as some slight acknowledgment 

 of the many kindnesses shown and the frequent assistance 

 rendered to English naturalists and men of science who have 

 been so fortunate as to come in his way in their passage 

 along the coasts of the Pacific. 



C. Dowiana is very easily grown, but the warmest end of 

 the Cattleya house seems to suit it best. 



Descr Psevdobulhs eight inches to a foot high, slender at* 

 the base but very much swollen in their upper portion, 

 furrowed. Leaves one on each pseudobulb, oblong, thick, 

 and rather broad for the genus, from a span to a foot long. 

 Peduncle two- to six-fl©wered, exceedingly stout, about six 

 inches long, proceeding from a ftpqthe Somewhat shorter than 

 itself. Flowers very large and beautiful, nankeen-coloured, 

 with the exception of the lip, their total expansion nearly 



