Kent, under the name of M. melanoxantha, luichb. f., 

 which according to the description must be a very different 

 plant. 



Descr. Stems tufted. Leaves four to six inches long, 

 very coriaceous, linear-oblong, obtuse or minutely two-fid 

 at the tip, nerveless, midrib stout at the back, deeply 

 grooved in front, margins subrecurved, base narrowed 

 into a stout petiole, one and a half to two inches long, 

 clothed at the base with cylindric sheaths. Scapes one- 

 flowered, shorter than the leaves, stout, purplish, sheathed 

 at the base and middle ; sheaths cylindric, obliquely trun- 

 cate, membranous. Flowers horizontal or deflexed ; ovary 

 one-half to two-thirds of an inch long, cylindric, whitish, 

 puberulous, speckled with red as is the perianth externally. 

 Perianth three inches long, very coriaceous ; tube two- 

 thirds of an inch long by one-half of an inch in diameter, 

 cylindric with a short rounded mentum. Upper sepal 

 gradually narrowed from a triangular-ovate base into a 

 long slender coriaceous tail, margined with yellow, speckled 

 above with red, dirty white within with three red nerves ; 

 lower sepals connate to nearly the middle into a broadly 

 ovate blade deep purple within, beyond the middle they 

 are free and form slender tails like the dorsal sepals. 

 Petals oblong, acute, white. Lip oblong, dirk purple, and 

 villous above. Column obtuse. — J. D. II. 



Fig. ], Flower with the sepals removed; 2, lip; 3, column; 4, anther ; 

 o, pollinia : — all enlarged 



