Backhouse, of York, who exhibited a flowering specimen 

 of it — from which the Plate was derived — at one of the 

 Tuesday meetings at South Kensington in November last. 

 It appears quite at home in what may conveniently be termed 

 the " Peruvian house," as meant to include the coolest and 

 dampest section of temperate Orchids, while the " Mexican 

 house " would indicate a climate somewhat warmer and drier 

 than the last, but still cool. 



As a genus, Mesospinidium comes near to Odontoglossum, 

 from Avhich a superficial observer might fail to distinguish it- 

 Professor Keichenbach — the founder of the genus — would 

 also make it embrace the genera 'Ada' and 'Abola' of 

 Lindley, a view in which I find myself at present unable to 

 concur. 



Descr. An epiphyte, with compressed, prettily-mottled oval 

 two-leaved pseudobulbs. Leaves ligulate, sharp-pointed, 

 shorter than the many-flowered drooping slightly-branched 

 flower-stem. Bracts minute, scale-like. Sepals oblong, acute, 

 the side ones joined at the base — for more than half their 

 length. Petals cuneate, ovate, acute, of a firm waxy sub- 

 stance, and (like the sepals) of a uniform warm rosy tint. 

 Lip Ungulate, sharp-pointed, its sides erect, its middle lobe 

 recurved, with a two-limbed diverging process at the base. 

 The lip at its point is of the same rosy tint as the sepals and 

 petals, but fades into white in its lower portion. Column 

 white, slightly lobed. — J. Bateman. 



Fig. 1. Side view of lip and column. 2. Front view of lip. 3. Ditto 

 of column. 4. Pollen-masses -. — magnified. 



