There certainly is not a more singular genus than this 

 in the whole vegetable kingdom, nor one whose flowers are 

 less like flowers to the eye of the ordinary observer. The 

 sepals are of the most delicate texture ; when young they 

 spread equally round the centre, but after a few hours they 

 collapse, and assume the appearance of a bat's wing half 

 closed. The lip is furnished near its base with a yellow 

 cup, over wdiich hang two horns constantly distilling water 

 into it, and in such abundance as to fill it several times ; 

 this cup communicates by a narrow channel formed of the 

 inflated margin of the lip, with the upper end of the latter, 

 and this also is a capacious vessel very much like an old 

 helmet, into which the honey that the cup cannot contain 

 may run over. 



C. maculata differs from C. speciosa, not only in the colour 

 of the flowers and the greater breadth of its leaves, but also 

 in its lateral sepals being almost exactly half-cordate, without 

 any bend in the middle, and in the horns of the base of its 

 lip being much longer ; the middle lobe of its lip too is 

 less distinctly trifid. 



C. macrantha^ which has lately flowered at Mr. Knight's, 

 surpasses both the others in the richness and magnitude of its 

 flower, and is decidedly distinguished by the mesochilium 

 being irregularly plaited and ridged. 



Our drawing of this species w^as made from a specimen 

 communicated by the Horticultural Society in July 1833. 



