Plate 384 

 ONdDIUM CALANTHUM. 



The great and increasing interest which is being taken, in the 

 cultivation of Orchids, is manifested by the very Large number 

 of new spc.ics which me being added to our lists from abroad, 

 as well as b) the efforts of hybridizers at home; and especiallj 

 lias this been the case since the culture of cool-house Orchids 

 lias been so successfully carried out in various places,— afford- 

 ing, as it does, opportunities for persons of moderate means and 

 appliances for carrying on their cultivation. 



The class of Oncidium has already afforded many verj beau 

 tiful species, well known in our Orchid-houses, the beautiful 

 Oncidium papilio, by its singular likeness to a butterfly, often 

 surprising those who are ignorant what the fluttering flower 

 ma 3 be; and several species of late introduction still seem to 

 keep up the interest of the class,— amongst these, the vex 

 beautiful species which we now figure, which was not long ago 

 exhibited by the Messrs. Backhouse and Son, of York, al a 

 meeting of the Floral Committee of the Royal Borticultural 

 Society, and from them received a first-class certificate. VS e are 

 informed by Messrs. Backhouse that it was obtained by their 

 collector from the high Cordilleras of Ecuador ; and as it is from 

 a high and cool region, its treatment will he similar to that 

 of other species from the cooler regions of Ecuador, Mexico, 

 etc. The colour of the flower is a brilliant yellow, that of the 

 labellnm being deeper than the petals or sepals; it is verj 

 free in its growth, and the bloom is very abundantl} produced ; 

 and as it blooms in winter or very early in spring, at a season 

 when flowers are of the greatest value, it will he the more 

 appreciated. The loose and elongated flower-stems detract 



