5. BOLBOPHYLLUM fuscutn ; pseudobulbis oblongis obtus6 tetragonis 



diphyllis, foliis linearl-obloiigis patentlbus cmarginatis, spica pedunculata, 



disticha ancipiti glabra pcndiila, bracteis ovatis cucullatis acutis coloratis 



distantibus florum longitudlne sepalls triangularibus acutis, labello trilobo 



carnoso laciiila Intermedia convcxa rotundata lateralibus brevioribus masis 



1 • • • 



membranaceis acutis serrulatis. 



Nearly related to B. tetragonum, like which species it is 

 a native of Sierra Leone. The flowers are a deep dull 

 chocolate colour, and are chiefly remarkable for the beauty 

 of their anatomical structure. Like Liparis pendula they 

 are studded with large transparent cells, containing raphides 

 in cubical parcels, and they are moreover filled witli short 

 spiral vessels, so closely filled with air that it is difficult to 

 drive it out even with the aid of the air-pump. Imported by 

 Messrs. Loddiges. 



6. QUEKETTIA microscopica. A very singular little 

 plant, with the habit of a Pleurothallis, and the pollen- 

 masses of a Vandeous Orchidacea ; more nearly allied to 

 Rodriguezia than to any thing else, but quite difterent in 

 habit, and essentially distinguished by its cylindrical peri- 

 anth, and labellum not only parallel with the auriculate 

 column throughout its whole length, but excavated at the 

 base, and furnished there with two callosities like those of 

 Spiranthes. Its leaves are terete, subulate, about three 

 inches long, and beautifully mottled with light green, deep 

 green, and purple. 



Although this little plant is only a few inches high, and 

 has no attractions for the vulgar eye, it is in some respects 

 one of the most interesting I know, if examined microsco- 

 pically. Nothing can be more beautiful than the fabric of 

 the leaves below the epidermis, and it undoubtedly deserves 

 more examination in this respect than I am at present able 

 to give it. The flowers abound in raphides, clustered in 

 ceils larger than those which surround them, and of a diffe- 

 rent colour, so that the flower, when examined with low 

 powers of the microscope, looks as if it were dotted. I have 

 observed this already in Liparis pendula (Bot. Beg. 1838, 

 7nisc. no. 128.), and in Bolbophyllum fuscum, and it will 

 probably be found a common structure in the sepals and 

 petals of Orchidacea?, as we already know it is in their leaves 

 and stems. The caudicula is excellently adapted to shew 



