BY THE REV. DR. "WOOLLS, D.D., P.L.S. 815 



leafless epiphytes, sometimes ascending to a great height, closely 

 adhering to the stems of trees, and throwing out rootlets opposite 

 the bracts. The smaller species occurs in the neighbourhood of 

 Sydney and Liverpool, but the larger one belongs rather to the 

 northern parts of the colony and Queensland. Prasopfoylhm 

 datum is the tallest of our terrestrial orchids, and Oberonia 

 palmicola, Bolbopliyllum minutissimum, and Corysantlies unguiculata 

 amongst the smallest of the order. The genus Piuris, which 

 has at least 10 species in New South Wales, is peculiar to 

 Australia, and as Mr. Bentham remarks, is not to be confounded 

 with any other. Spiranthes australis has a wide range over Asia 

 and part of Europe, whilst the following genera are represented 

 in New Zealand, Dendrobium, Bolbopliyllum, Sarcochilus, Gastrodia, 

 Tlielymitra, Adenochilus, Corysantlies, Pterostylis, Orthoceras, 

 Prasopliyllum, Microtis, Cyrtostylis and Caladenia. Sarchochilus 

 parviflorus is one of our most southern species, common to Victoria 

 and Tasmania. Glossodia major is remarkable for its sweetly 

 scented leaf, whilst Caleana and Pralccea have the labellum so 

 irritable that the least breeze causes it to descend like a lid on the 

 flower. These genera extend to West Australia, and the late 

 Mr. Drummond called the one "The Fly Catching" and the 

 other " The Hinged Orchid." He says of the former, "In this 

 Orchid, C. niyrita, the anthers are placed in the lower part of the 

 flower, and the upper part (the lid), which I think must be the 

 stigma, has to pass and repass them as the flower opens and 

 shuts. When touched with anything, the lid instantly closes, 

 but soon opens again if it catches nothing ; when it captures an 

 insect, it remains shut longer than I have continued to watch." 

 Mr. Fitzgerald, who has figured C. major and C. minor, gives a 

 very interesting account of the mode in which he supposes they 

 are fertilised by means of insects. He says that they are some- 

 times destroyed by the process, and that the usual time for the 

 flower to remain shut when no insect is enclosed, is from a 

 quarter of an hour to an hour. 







