Orchidew.] ‘ THE HIMALAYAN MOUNTAINS. ) 363 
with rich yellow Cyrtopera-like flowers. The seed vessel has no ribs, and in one 
flower a plurality of stamens was found. | 
The most important addition, however, which Dr. Falconer has been fortunate 
enough in making, is one which elucidates the organization of the Orchidee. This 
is one of the family which is always triandrous, and of which he observes, that the 
three anthers are not the only singularity; the flower is perfectly regular; the three 
sepal segments being exactly equal, as are also the three petals, which, although of 
the same length, are twice as broad as the sepals. The column is also symmetrical ; 
and as there is no labellum, it is difficult, when the flower is removed from the axis, 
to find out which of the petals represents the lip. Further, and what is most interesting 
of all, that is, the normal position of the supplementary anthers in the family. Dr. 
Lindley, in his formula, makes them alternate with the lateral petals, while Mr. 
Brown, from the structure of Apostasia and Cypripedium, considers that they alternate 
with the lateral sepals, and belong to a different whorl from the fertile anther. In Dr. F.’s 
plant, it is most distinctly evident, both bya decurrent ridge of each filament and by 
transverse sections of the column, at all heights down to its base, that the supple- 
mentary anthers have the same relative position as the usual fertile one, and in harmony 
with Dr. Lindley’s formula. Further, Dr. F. has another variety of the species (he 
first thought they were two), in which the column is sliced off in front, as is usual in 
Dendrobium, and then the labellar petal is invariably developed into a spurred lip; so 
that it would appear, that in the family the irregularity of the lip is a state of anamor- 
phosis, consequent onthe imperfect development of the column, or vice versd ; in fact, 
that the deficiency in the one is abstracted to make up the excess of the other. 
The Malaridee@, though named from the European genus Malavis, consist chiefly of 
extra-European Orchide@, divided into the tribes Pleurothallee and Dendrobiee. The 
former are found in the tropical parts of America and Africa, as well as in the islands 
of the Pacific and Indian Oceans, with a few species in New Holland, New Zealand, 
and Norfolk Island. Some ascend considerable elevations, as Pleurothallis laurifolia 
and pulchella, to 7,000 and 8,000 feet on the Andes of Quito, and Restrepia antennifera 
‘to nearly 9,000 feet in New Granada and the’Andes of Paraguay. It is of this tribe 
that the genera and species extend to the most northern latitudes, as M/alavis paludosa 
to the north of Europe, with species of Microstylis, Liparis, and Corallorhiza, which 
are likewise found in North America. Of these, M/alavis is alone of limited distribution. 
The others, whether few or numerous in species, are yet very widely distributed. 
Thus, AZicrostylis and Liparis, numerous in species, are found in the tropics, both of 
the Old and New World, in the island of Otaheite, and in China and Japan, Liparis also 
in New Holland ‘and the Mauritius. Both extend from the Indian Archipelago to Ceylon, 
and thence along the Himalayas, from Silhet to Nepal and Mussooree. Corallorhiza, 
though consisting of only three species, has these widely distributed, one in Europe, 
the second in N. America, and the third in the Himalayas: This, C. foliosa, Dr. Lindley 
considers the most curious’ thing in the Indian collections. But genera are not alone 
3 342 common 
