given a full and clear account of the peculiar appearance 
which its flowers assume. The singular arrangement was 
again very carefully described and discussed by Mr. 
Darwin in 1862, though in this instance that author was 
under the necessity of concluding that “‘some new and 
curious contrivance has here to be made out,” and the 
riddle as to how in this case insects perform the act of 
fertilisation still remains unsolved. The original belief 
that the species here described was a native of Colombia 
was in time confirmed by the receipt of examples sent 
from that country by Mr. G. Wallis to Messrs. James 
Veitch and Sons. The generic position which Reichen- 
bach and Lindley had assigned to this plant and its 
_ Jamaican congener was felt to be very unsatisfactory, 
_and in 1887 the “ Window-bearing Orchids,” of which 
there were at least eight, were made the subject of 
careful study by Mr. R. A. Rolfe, who then showed that 
both the Jamaican and Colombian species belong to the 
genus Cryptophoranthus, established by Mr. Barbosa- 
Rodriguez, now known to include fourteen described 
species, among which they stand as Cryptophoranthus 
uropurpureus and C. Dayanus respectively. The culti- 
vation of C. Dayanus does not offer any especial difficulty ; 
it thrives well in a tropical house under the conditions 
suitable for species of Masdevallia. The species is now 
not uncommon in collections; the plant here figured 
flowered in the Kew Gollection in October, 1916. 
Description.— Herb, epiphytic, about 10 in. high ; stems clustered, cylindric, 
rather slender, clothed with oblong somewhat imbricate spathaceous sheaths, 
1-foliate. Leaves subsessile, wide-elliptic: or orbicular-elliptic, rather obtuse, 
coriaceous, 24-8) in. long, 1}-24 in, wide. Flowers axillary, solitary or few, 
large, straw-coloured with brown blotches; bracts ovate, apiculate, 1-} in. long ; 
pedicels 3-2 in. long. Sepals elliptic-oblong, free in the middle but connate at 
base and apex so as to form a tube, laterally fenestrate, recurved and apiculate 
at the tip. Petals ovate, somewhat obtuse, about 4 in. long. Lip hastate- 
oblong, obtuse, } in. long, denticulate at the tip and furnished at the base with 
a conical warted tubercle. Ovary winged, the wings crispately wavy. Colwmn 
oblong, angled, } in. long. Pollinia 2, elliptic-ovoid. 
Tas. §740.—Fig. 1, a flower with the sepals removed; 2, lip and column in 
their natural position; 3, lip; 4, column; 5, anther-cap: 6, pollinia ;—all 
enlarged. ‘ 
