16S nCRMA, ITS PEOPLE AXD PRODUCTIOXS. 



In general character like tlie two preceding species, but a veiy much larger 

 plant. Whereas in Thunia ulha and Bensonia, only two stems, one old and one new, 

 go to form the plant, the species under consideration has several stems gi'owing in a 

 fascicled manner, and these are 18 inches or 2 feet long, as thick as the little finger, 

 and leafy throughout. The fio-wers also are more numerous, 6 to 8 in a raceme. 

 They are white, hardly so large as those of Thuitia Bensunim, and the lip is marked 

 with ochraceous lines in the disk and yellow veins, wlience the specific name. On 

 trees in the plains, about ilaiilmain. 



Thiaiia pulclira is the same as Thunia xaiithophlebia. Both are Prof. R.'s names. 

 "W'hy ho changed the latter name first given into T. pulchra, I do not know. 

 T. xanthophlebia is descriptive ; T. pulchra is not. I had it growing for 20 j'ears 

 in my garden, and considered it an inditferent tiling. — C'.P. 



Before leaving this genus, I would draw attention to the pollen-masses. These 

 are described by Sir J. Hooker in Bot. Jldr/. under tab. 5694 as 4, clavate (club-shaped) 

 furrowed, and finely granular. It was always my custom, whenever time permitted 

 it, and the opportunity oft'ered itself, to examine the prdlen-masses of all Orchids with 

 the greatest care, and to draw them with scrupulous fidelity. In the great majority 

 of cases this was done at leisure, the plants examined being fresh-gathered in my 

 garden. This was the case with Thunia Bensunm and xanthopMehia, and the drawings 

 as made some 15 years ago are now before me as I write these lines. Now the pollen- 

 masses of the two plants are very different. They dift'er in number and in shape. In 

 T. xanthojihlfhia 1 find 4, and in T. Bensonim I find 8. The diflerence in shape is 

 not easy to describe ; a drawing is required to make it plain. However, in T. 

 xanihophhhia, they are distinctly 4 only, all 4 equal, elongated, lying in pairs, one 

 pair in each cell of the anther, concavo-convex, and accumbent, i.e. appressed side 

 Ly side, their concave sui-faces one against the other; all four united by two con- 

 stricted necks (which gives them a somewhat club-shaped appearance) to a common 

 thick granular base, or stipes.' In T. Bt-nsunia; they are 8, 2 pairs in each anther- 

 cell, and these pairs ai'e incumbent, i.e. one pair behind another. The pairs in each 

 cell, moreover, are unequal, a larger pair and a smaller pair, the smaller pair being 

 raised by a slenderer stipes of their- own on to the broader stipes of the larger pair, 

 and all united by a grumous (or thick clotted) mass, forming a spurious gland. It 

 may, indeed, be allowable still to say they are 4 only, but these 4 are distinctly 

 cloven to their base, so as to form 8 plano-convex masses, very much as, in T. 

 xtmtliophlebia, the two greater may be said to be partible into four smaller masses. 

 I have no record of the pollen-masses of T. alia, but they are probably like those 

 of T. Bensonitr, from which it is doubtfully distinct as a species. Indeed, under its 

 old name of Pliaius alhu>i, it comes under that genus in Lindley's " Genera and 

 Species of Orchidaceous Plants," and one of the distinctive characters of Phaius is 

 that it has 8 pollen-masses. 



MoNOMEEiA, Lindl. 



Founded by Lindley on one species discovered by Wallich in Nipal, to which 

 Lindley gave the name of J/, harhata. The following is his description of the genus. 



wliitish. This one has no cover of exin.a, though I admit that the pollinia are not quite as soft as in 

 lili'tilla ht/aciiit/tinn, called Sobntlia bhtittiiks by excellent botanists of Paris for its mealy pollinaria, 

 yet they are nearly as in some Galeola, which I had the pleasure of seeing fresh. Blume, indeed, has, 

 in 1856 {Miistum, p. 181), quoted I'/inins albiis, Lindl., as Phaius, yet in his last (Jrchid book lie 

 omitted the jilant, no doubt having been informed of its separation — at least I cannot find it in his 

 last liook. Alter all Bhime did not know the marks of distinction between J'/iai«s and Bhlia. Jlorpho- 

 loi,qe;dly our plant teauhes us once more not to rely too much on the presence of the spurs. Our pbint 

 has no spur, and 'T. alba enjoys a spur. Tluinias have a terminal inflorescence on the leafy shoots, 

 when I'hauises have their inflorescences and their fascicles of leaves apart. Tlniinas have fleshy 

 membranaceous leaves, F/iaii/ses have plaited ones ; Thunias have persistent, I'ltaitms deciduous bracts ; 

 2'/j ;;«(«* have 4, /7(n;K.sfs 8 poUen-masses ; FItaius flowers get blue when dried, Thuinas keep white, 

 or get brownish flowers in this state. If yon look to tlic propagation, you can make cuttings of Tlnnnas 

 as of a liiactciia. Trv it with F/iaiuses ! A representation of Thiona pttlchfa will be given in Xtma, 

 and it is intended to add for mere comparison a representation of Phaius!'' — H. G. Pchb. f. 



1 I use the word stipes lure, as, from its meaning, it is more appropriate than caudicle, though 

 it is not of a Vaudeous character. 



