6 
But will the rarity of Orchidacez, or the care and attention they require, suffice to explain the strange power of 
fascination which they are felt to possess? Or is it to be accounted for by the beauty, the fragrance, or the durability of 
their flowers ?—or by the presence of all these qualities combined? No; other plants might be mentioned, as rare, and 
as difficult of culture, and scarcely inferior to them in personal charms, and yet ¢hey could never boast of the train of 
admirers that has lately been attracted round these mighty vegetable enchanters. In what, then, does the secret of their 
spell consist? We have sought for it in vain, in every source from which floral pleasure ordinarily springs,—in all 
that constitutes the charm of other plants! Neither can the question be disposed of by looking merely to the end for 
which Orchidacex were designed, and which we believe to have been solely to afford us high and imnocent enjoyment ; 
but it is the means to that end,—the secret of that power which we are now so anxious to arrive at. Something it must 
clearly be, that forms not only the pride of Orchidacez, but which at once distinguishes them from every other tribe ; 
and where is a character so marked and peculiar to be found ?—where, but in the marvellous structure, the grotesque 
conformation, and imitative character of their flowers? Yes; here we have that which is more than sufficient to 
explain all the wonder and admiration they have excited; and here, then, we may safely affirm the seat of their magic 
influence resides. It now, therefore, only remains for us to prove that the attributes with which we have invested them, 
and from which we believe their interest to be derived, are neither idly nor fancifully ascribed to them; and this, we 
apprehend, we shall have but little difficulty in effecting. 
Accustomed as we are to look upon the animal and vegetable kingdoms as altogether distinct, our astonishment 
may well be awakened, when we see the various forms of the one appropriated by the flowers of the other ; and yet 
such encroachments are but a part, of the liberties which these Orchidacee are perpetually taking; for, as if it were 
too simple a matter to imitate the works of Nature only, they mimic, absolutely mimic, the productions of art! But 
not contented to rest even here, they display a restless faculty of invention, fully equal to their powers of imitation, and 
after having, like Shakspeare, “exhausted worlds,” like him too, they seem to have “imagined new;” and thus we 
find their flowers exhibiting a variety of strange and unearthly objects, such as bear no resemblance to created things, 
nor yet to any of the works of man. Such a host of examples of their freaks in all these departments are on record, 
that we scarcely know where to commence our selection; perhaps, however, it may be well to take first a few of the 
more prominent cases, in which they have adopted, as their models, sundry kinds of insects, birds, beasts, fishes, and 
reptiles.* We will begin, then, with the insects; not only because they are the class most frequently imitated, but 
because we may draw a portion of our illustrations from the meadows and pastures of our own country, where, at the 
proper season, flies, bees, drones, and spiders + may be seen, which really present us with very striking likenesses 
of the originals. From the Tropics we have grasshoppers, mosquitoes, dragon-flies, moths, { &c. &c., in the greatest 
variety ; and we have, also, the gorgeous vegetable-butterfly of Trinidad, whose blossoms, poised at the extremity of 
their long elastic scapes, wanton gaily in the wind, and “seem impatient of that fixture by which they are differenced 
in kind from the flower-shaped Psyche that flutters with free wing above them.” || We come next to the “birds,” 
from which the Orchidacese have borrowed their swans, eagles, doves, and pelicans,§ to say nothing of a large 
* Our examples will be principally derived from South America, for owing to the much greater uniformity in the blossoms of the Orchidacez of the Old World, the cases 
in which strange figures and animal likenesses occur are not nearly so numerous as in the New. Among the more remarkable of the “ Orientals” we may mention Vanda 
peduncularis, Renanthera arachnites, and Phalenopsis amabile ; the latter bears a most striking resemblance to a downy white moth (hence the name), and flowered last 
year (1837), for the first time in Europe, in the rich collection of the Messrs. Rotursson, of Tooting. It is figured in the Herbarium Amboinense of Rumpntius; and this 
worthy man (hardly knowing what to make of the insect and animal mockeries of which this Phalenopsis and others of its tribe are guilty,) quotes the opinion of 
a contemporary botanist, who seems to be convinced that all such-like Orchidacee spring “vel ex putridis quorundam animalium cadaveribus, im quibus vis quedam 
seminalis latet, vel ex ipsis animalium seminibus, que in montibus vel pratis coeunt, atque pro ejus argumento dicit in Satyriorum (meaning all Orchidaceze) floribus detegi 
speciem istius animalis, ex cujus semine in terra putrefacto hoc Satyrium emcrevit, vel istius insecti, quod plerumque ex cadavere cujusdam animalis prodit.” —Rumru. 
Herb. Amb. vi. 98. 
+ E.g. “flies” in Ophrys muscifera, “bees” in O. apifera, “ drones” in O. fucifera, “spiders ’ 
Ophrys muscifera has twice occurred in the garden of the Rev. I. Burr, of Trentham, whose devotion to the Orchidaceze of Europe and North America is fully equal to 
that of some of his contemporaries for those of the torrid zone. The flowers of O. muscifera bear, it is well known, a striking resemblance to a certain (and that an 
uncommon) species of fly; and some years since, one of this description was observed by Mr. Burr to settle for days together on a blossom of the unconscious plant, no 
doubt under the impression that it was enjoying the society of one of its own kind. For several summers afterwards, although the Orchis continued to flower, the fly was 
no where to be seen; last year, however, it was again observed at its post, where it remained, as before, for several days in succession. 
’ > 
in O. aranifera. A remarkable circumstance, connected with 
+ The columns of many of the Catasetums and other genera make excellent “ Grasshoppers.” ‘“ Mosquitoes” are borne by Trichoceros antennifer, or “Flor de 
Mosquito” of the Peruvians; “ Dragon-flies” by Renanthera arachnites ; “Moths” by Phalenopsis amabile, &c. &c. Insect-like “ Antenne ” are also conspicuous in the 
flowers of Restrepia antennifera, and an unpublished Mexican Epidendrum (E. antenniferum, Lind. MSS.) discovered by Mr. Hencuman. The Genera Myanthus of 
Linpuey, and Myoxanthus of Porrria and Enpuicuer, (though now abolished) were also founded, as their names imply, on the resemblance of their flowers to different 
kinds of flies. 
\| Coleridge’s “ Aids to Reflection.” The “ Butterfly-plant” of Trinidad, is the now well-known Oncidium papilio ; it had not flowered in this country at the time the 
“ Aids to Reflection” were written, otherwise we might have supposed it to have been in the eye of the “Ancient Mariner” when he penned the passage we 
have quoted. 
§ “Swans” are found in both the species of Cycnoches (vide Tab. V.); “doves,” in Peristeria elata; “Pelicans,” in an unintroduced Mexican Cypripedium 
(C. Irapeanum La Luave,) which, from the great resemblance of its flowers to the bird of that name, is styled by the natives ‘“ Flor de Pelicano.” As to the “ Eagles,” 
they have not yet come under the cognizance of any professed botanist; but a fine Orchidacea which has been imported from Jamaica by that zealous collector, 
Mr. Horsraut, of Liverpool, is always spoken of as the “spread eagle” by the inhabitants of that island. Unfortunately, the plant has hitherto refused to flower ; and, 
therefore, we have had no opportunity of judging how far it deserves its title. 
