Tas. 7664, 
MASDEVALLIA muscosa. 
Native of Colombia and_ Ecuador, 
Nat. Ord. OncuipEm.—Tribe EripenpREa&. 
Genus Maspnevatiia, Ruiz & Pav.; ( — & Hook. f. Gen. Plant. vol. iii. 
p- 492.) 
MAsDEVALLIA muscosa ; caespitosa, folio 1}-2 pollicari ovato-oblongo y. oblan- 
ceolato in petiolum 4-1 poll. longum sulcatum angustato coriaceo 
glaberrimo supra papilloso saturate viridi subtus pallidiore purpureo 
suffuso petiolo ima basi vaginato, scapo unifloro 5-6-pollicari gracillimo 
pilis glanduligeris laxis patentibus obsito, medium versus vagina parva 
cylindracea obtusa glaberrima instructo, bractea vagina simili } poll. 
longa membranacea brunnea, pedicello brevi decurvo glaberrimo, 
ovario hispido, sepalis basi pallide flavis purpureo striatis in tubum 
campanulatum gibbum connatis sursum in caudas pollicares apicibus 
clavellatis productis, petalis poll. longis linearibus apicibus rotundatis 
margine superiore supra medium unidentatis, labelli } poll. longi ungne 
limbo equilongo tomentoso aureo rubro punctulato, limbo triangalari- 
obovato velutino lateribus rotnndatis purpureo basi aureo marginibus 
incurvis setulosis, columna anguste alata, anthera dorsali. 
M. muscosa, Reichb. f. in Gard. Chron. 1875, vol. i. p. 460; 1881, vol. ii 
p. 336. Bean wm Gard. Chron. 1887, vol. i. p. 836. Veitch Man. 
Orchid. part v. p. 54. Woodward, Masdevall, t. 39. F. Oliver in Ann, 
Bot. vol. i. (1887-8), p. 237, tab. xii. 
M. muscosa is a very interesting plant, being the only 
one of the seventy or eighty species of Masdevallia that 
have been described or enumerated, in which the lip has 
been shown to be sensitive, and to entrap insects in the 
flower. This discovery was made by Mr. Bean, when 
foreman of the Orchid Collection of the Royal Gardens in 
1887, and is described by him in the Gardeners Chronicle 
for that year (vol. i. p. 836) ; and later by Prof. F. Oliver, 
in an elaborate paper, illustrated with anatomical details, 
which appeared in the “Annals of Botany’”’ of the same 
year. It may briefly be described as follows. The claw 
of the lip is sensitive, and on being touched, however 
lightly, by an insect alighting on the blade, the latter 
springs up, imprisoning the insect between it and the 
column. The insect is then in a position to detach the 
pollen, which on its release by the blade falling back, is 
carried off. On visiting the lip of another flower the insect 
Jury Ist, 1899, 
