47 



it, for he caused a drawing to be made. Griffitli in August, 183G, 

 also obtained it at Sadiya in Upper Assam and made drawings and 

 disseetiojis of the flowers. 



Flower of Saccolabium secundiun, x 2.2, viewed horizontally from the 

 side, and from in front : and in vertical section. 



Wallich appears to have intended calling it Sarcanthus o.ry- 

 plnjllus, but Lindle}' in helping Wallich with the distribution of hi.s 

 collection, by some accident transferred this name to another orchid, 

 substituting Micro pora pallida, but confusing two species, (irifhth 

 headed his description of the ])lant Sarcanthus secundum and Mc- 

 Clelland published it after his death in the Posfhuinous Papers 

 HI, Xotulae, 1851, p. 3()2. Eidley, in tran.sferriiig the plant to the 

 genus Saccolabium, rightly coupled (jrittith's .speciiic n-ame into 

 the compound Saccolahiuia secundum. 



In 1895 under the editorship of Sir Joseph Hooker, Wallich 's 

 drawing was reproduced in the Annals of the Eoi/al Botanic 

 Gardens, Calcutta, vol. V, plate 77. Griffith's pencil sketch had 

 appeared in 1851, but the plant as it grows in the Malay Peninsula 

 has deeper colours in the flower than Wallich's plate or Griffith's 

 dsecrijition indicate for the Assam plant; and they are sligthly 

 differently distributed. The annexed drawing shows its appearance, 

 the black on the sepals and lateral petals representing a very dark 

 chocolate brown, the white a pale greenish yellow. Griffith in- 

 dicated that the Assamese plant has reddish orange where the 

 Malayan plant has chocolate, and Wallich's drawing bears this out. 

 The lip does not po.ssess these colours, but it is lilac fading to white 

 towards the base with yellow within the side lobes on either side. 



The lip combined with the column is a very complex structure 

 through not unique in the genus. The median crest of the limb 

 is extended as a partition down the spur, which divides it almost 

 completely into two, ending about mid length at the back and form- 

 ing a short beak anteriorly. Above the point where the partition ends 

 at the back is the caruncle which is bilobed and sits astride of the 

 margin of the partition in such a manner as almost to close the way 

 to the interior of the spur. Insects seeking honey must pass a 

 proboscis either to right or to left of this caruncle and And it 

 so directed into one half of the in-terior only. The honey is very 

 abundant, and the walls of the spur are extremely succulent. 



Undoubtedly there is not a little variation in the colouring of 

 the flowers; and Dr. J. J. Smith in his Orchideen von Java, 1905, 

 p. (i04 states that the sepals and petals may be coloured light or 

 dark bro\vn with greenish blue margin and stripe down the middle. 



