ORCHIDE.E. 153 



Some few of the older plants -n-ill be found described in Lindley's "Genera and 

 Species of Orcbidaceoiis riants;" some few more in las " Contributions to tlie Orcliid- 

 ology of India," vols. i. ii. and iii. of tbe Journal of the Proceedimja of the Linnean 

 Societij : Botany, ilore are to be found in Professor H. G. lleicbenbacli's " Enumera- 

 tion of Orchids collected (by me) in the Neighbourhood of Maulmain," Linn. Soc. 

 Transactions, vol. xxx. : and yet a few more in the same author's " Orchideaj 

 Parishiana3 Bunnenses," Otia JMannica, Fasc. J. Hamburi^^h, 1878. Having: these, 

 I fear the student mtist wait until full and complete descriptions of all Indian Orchids 

 appear in the "Flora Indica," now in the course of publication; though it will 

 probably be some time yet before the order " Orchidete " comes to be handled. 



I take this opportunity of acknowledging liow much I owe to Prof. Reichenbach 

 for kindly naming my numerous Orchids, and for his collation and recension of them. 

 To quote Mr. lientham's words : He is "the great Orchidologist of the present day, 

 who took up the pen and pencil as they fell from the hands of Lindley, and who, 

 luiving since devoted himself almost exclusively to the study of the order, is now the 

 only authority for determination of species." 



For my humble part, I have given as complete a Catalogue, as the materials at 

 hand have enablud me to give, of all the Orchids known to grow in Burma, with 

 references. This I trust will pruve useful. And from this Catalogue I have selected 

 some of those species which appeared to me to be most remarkable for beauty, or for 

 some peculiarity of structure, and have described or remarked upon them. The 

 descriptions I have tried to make as simple as possible, avoiding scientific tei-nis 

 generally, though, for brevity's sake, I have been drawn into using a few ; these, 

 however, I have nearly always explained. I hope that in this a fairly miildle course 

 has been struck between language which, by an affected accuracy, might have proved 

 imintelligible to the beginner, and that which, from its laxity, would have been 

 wholly useless from a scientific point of view. 



The total number of Orchids hero catalogued is considerably over 350. This is 

 a large number for so small an area as that over which tlie collection has been made. 

 For all but a very few come from the Tenasserim provinces, Upper Burma having 

 been but hastily gleaned. AVhen, therefore, we consider further how little ground 

 has been really covered in the search for Orchids, and how local and limited in their 

 area many plants are, we may be sure that a large number remaiu to be discovered, 

 and moderately safe in predicting that Burma is yet capable of showing a list of 

 500 species. 



It should be understood that the number of species given as that of each genus 

 means, not that of all known Orchids, but of known Burmese Orchids. — C.P. 



ORCHID ALES. 

 Floirers hermaphrodite and very irregular. Pcri'inf/i of 6, rarely 3, segments. 

 Stamens 1, 2, or 3, confluent with the style. Fruit capsular. Embri/o very minute. 



MiCROSTTLIS, Nutt. 



Small terrestrial Orchids with plicate wavy leaves, the sheathing bases of which 

 combine to foi-m a kind of false stem. Hoots fibrous, attaching themselves to half- 

 decayed leaves and other loose vegetable matter. Flowers small and inconspicuous, 

 seated on a terminal erect stalk or rachis, commonly resupinate {i.e. inverted in 

 position). About half a dozen species. Pollen-masses -1, collateral (side by side). 



LiTAias, L. C. Rich. 

 Also inconspicuous plants, in general appearance resembling those of the pre- 

 ceding genus, but differing in the structure of the flowers. About a dozen species. 

 Pollen-massos 4, collateral. 



Malaxis, Sw. 

 Sub-genus Obeko.nia, Lindl. 



