THE RARE FORMS OF ORCHIDS. 



3 6 3 



^B0. 



festive occasions, and a considerable trade has been developed in 

 flowers for such uses. Favorite kinds for this purpose are the 

 Odo ntoglossums, 

 with handsome 

 white, starry 



flowers, and the 

 Oncidium papil- 

 io, with its but- 

 terfly-shaped co- 

 rolla. 



The enormous 

 sums that are 

 often paid for or- 

 chids are decried 

 as foolish, and 

 the extravagance 

 is sometimes com- 

 pared with the 

 craze that once 

 raged about tu- 

 lips. The two 

 fashions are not 

 to be compared ; 

 for there is some- 

 thing real and 

 solid about or- 

 chids, which will 

 always give them 

 rank among the 

 finest and most 

 highly esteemed 

 flowers ; while tu- 

 lips are not fine, 

 and soon suffered 

 a loss of the ex- 



travagant admi- 



Fig. 4. Motive in Cut Orchids, mounted on Bamboo. 



ration that prevailed for them for a time. New varieties of the 

 rose, although it is a very old flower, still bring higher prices 

 than the rarest of orchids. Translated for the Popular Science 

 Monthly from La Nature. 



One point of great interest observed by Dr. Hansen in his expedition across 

 Greenland was the very low temperature in the interior, which seems to be in de- 

 parture from the received meteorological laws. This may, he thinks, throw a 

 good deal of light on the much-discussed question of the cause of the great cold 

 of the Glacial period. No better place can be found for the pursuit of this inquiry 

 than Greenland. 



