ORCIIIDEyE. 170 



curved horns or hooks at its rx,treniity. The lip hangs clown pei-pcntlicularly from 

 tlie base of the column to which it is hut slenderly attaehed by a sort of shoi't ehav. 

 It consists of two distinct parts, a Inj/xicliiliiim and epichiUum, or back and trout lip ; 

 the foruier has a rij;id curved spur and 2 oblong side lobes above. The latter, which 

 may be called the middle lobe of au ordinary l;d)ellum, is also but slenderly attached 

 to the former just above the spur. Looked at sideways, it is square in outline ; viewed 

 in front, it is semicircular and has a fringed edge, while a tuft of very fine hairs 

 ornaments the back ])art. I find the following note in pencil attaehed to my drawing 

 made in 18().'3 : "That this is A. diffurme there can be no reasonable doubt, but it is 

 a much smaller jilant than the figure in the frontispiece of Lindlcy's Sertum Orchi- 

 dacemn, and possesses none of its fine colouring. Experience, however, sliows that 

 Orchids are nmch given to vary in size and colour according to locality, though 

 tolerably true to form and habit." 



S.vccoi.ABirM, BL 



A genus so closely allied to Aerides that it is difficult to lay hold of a really 

 satisfactory distinction. I look in vain for anything tangible, or that will hold good 

 in every instance. Lindley, in his analytical table of genera, where he naturally 

 seizes Tipon that point which most readily admits of distinct contrast, makes tho 

 difference to consist in the attachment of the lip, which in Aerides is affixed to the 

 lengthoied-hA^o of the column, whereas in Siicco/iibiiim it has "very little connexion 

 ■with the column." This, I presume, means much tho same thing as to say (as 

 Bentham has it in his recently published " Notes on Orchidea; ") that Aerides has a 

 "mention'" and Saccolahium has no nifntum;^ but this distinction is very slight, and 

 in a variety of species not so easily determiuable practically. Lindley docs, indeed, 

 in his after definition of the two genera, make another distinction in the form of the 

 lip, which he makes 3-Med in Aerides, and undiiided in Saccolahium. But, unfor- 

 tunately, this will not hold good, for some species of (so-called) Saccolahium have as 

 distinctly two side lobes to their lip as some species of Aerides. Neither does the 

 form of the "sac" or spur (call it which you will) furnish any reliable distinction 

 (though one plainly aimed at in the name) : for, though the bag-lipped form is well 

 illustrated in some species, e.g. in Saccolahium caleeolnre, and a smidl group closely 

 allied to it, there arc other species (so named) in which the appendage takes the 

 ordinaiy .</;;«■- shape of Aerides. Nor (as far as my experience goes) is it distinctive 

 of Aerides to have tho spur " turned upward on the back of the labellum " (Bentham, 

 p. 333), for there is a tendency in that of some Saccolahia to take the same direction, 

 e.g. Saccolahium ramosum and others.^ When, to all that has been said, it is f\irther 

 aclded, that there is hardly a Saccolahium which has not been called Aerides (while 

 some have even received the name of Vanda and Sarcanthus), and that some of tho 

 species have probably not yet found their final resting-places, it will, I think, be 

 admitted, that the task of satisfactorily defining genera is by no means an easy one. 

 Species 14. 



S. GIGAXTEUir. 



A species not to be confounded with any other, when once seen. Leaves very 

 broad, 2-3 inches, fieshy, streaked, short comparatively, a foot or more, unequally 

 two-lobed at the end. "Stem simple or hrauched, short and stout, sending out thick 

 fleshy roots. Flowers in a dense drooping raceme, veiy numerous, moderately sized, 

 white, wilh a purple lip, and a few lilac sjiots on the petals. The lip is flat, turned 

 upwards, and has 3 lobe-like divisions at the end. A noble species when seen in 

 perfection in its native wilds, but ill suited for cultivation in hot-houses at home, 

 owing to the room it requires and its extremely slow growth. Abundant about 

 Toung-ngoo and elsewhere in the North ; but, not found, I believe, in the Tcnasserim 

 Provinces. 



' The "meiitum" of an Orchid is tho prolong.itinn and hcnding forward of the column, in tlie 

 way of a " c/iin," a feature specially noticeable in tlie genus BnHnpliuliiim. 

 2 Saecolabium Uuttoni, Hot. Ma</. 5681, which is surely a typical A^ridts. 



