to 20. The bracts are, for the size of the flowers, rather large, 

 broad, ovate, a little stem-clasping-, very pale green, and 

 stained with crimson at the points. The three sepals are 

 narrow and taper to a point, pale green externally, dull cho- 

 colate brown in the inside (jig. 2. a. a. a.). The petals 

 are minute, slender-pointed scales, shorter than the co- 

 lumn, and not discoverable without disturbing the sepals. 

 The column is dwarf, and terminated in part by two long 

 curved horns (jig. 1. a. a., and jig. 2. c). The anther is a 

 little round lid, beautifully studded with crystalline points 

 (jig. 1.). The lip (jig- ~- b-) is one of the most extraordi- 

 nai-y organs known even among Orchidaceous plants ; it is 

 a long, narrow, flexuose, sharp-pointed body, closely covered 

 with a yellow felt; just within its point there is a deep purple 

 beard of exceedingly fine compact hairs ; on the vnider side, 

 at a little distance from the point of the lip, is another such 

 beard ; and besides these there is, at the end of the lip, a 

 brush consisting of very long, purple threads, so excessively 

 delicate, that the slightest disturbance of the air sets them in 

 motion, when they wave gently to and fro, like a tuft of 

 threads cut from a spider's web ; of the last mentioned hairs 

 some are of the same thickness throughout, others terminate 

 in an oblong club, so that when the hairs are waving in 

 the air, and I do not know that they ever are at rest, a part 

 float along gracefully and slowly, while the others are im- 

 pelled by the weight of their glandular extremities to a 

 more rapid oscillation. 



Nor is this all; the lip itself, with its yellow felt, its two 

 beards, and its long purple brushes, is articulated with the 

 column by such a very slight joint, that to breathe upon it is 

 suflicient to produce a rocking movement, so conspicuous 

 and protracted, that one is really tempted to believe that there 

 must be something of an animal nature infused into this most 

 unplant-like production. 



Messrs. Loddiges possess another species, with similar 

 habits. 



