rounded and acute or abruptly apiculate at the tip, with 
a pair of fleshy callose thickenings (which are more or 
less radiantly lobed below) in the lower half. Column 
short, stout, with a narrow fleshy wing on each side 
throughout, subtruncate above, about 7 mm. high at 
the back, produced at the base at a right angle into a 
short fleshy ovate-oblong foot. Anther relatively small, 
galeate, 1-celled. Pollinia 4, in two unequal pairs, with- 
out appendages, strongly complanate-subglobose, waxy. 
Ovary prominently 6-sulcate. 
This concept has a very distinctive appearance, but 
seems to lack affinity with any genus known to me. It 
appears to be abnormal in respect to the inflorescence 
which must be interpreted as being pseudoterminal in the 
axil of an upper leaf. Yet it surely does not represent the 
truly lateral inflorescence characteristic of Schlechter’s 
series Pleuranthae. The pollinia appear to be entirely 
without appendages, either viscid dise or caudicle, and 
thus to indicate a relationship to the subtribe Liparideae. 
However, it differs from all members of that subtribe 
(except from certain equitant-leaved plants of the Old 
World), in having articulated leaves and subfleshy or 
firm flowers. I therefore propose a new subtribe, Var- 
gasielleae, to be inserted in Schlechter’s arrangement 
before the Liparideae. 
It is with great pleasure that I dedicate this genus to 
Dr. César Vargas of Cuzco, Peru, whose wide explora- 
tions in that country, often in the face of serious obsta- 
cles, have added immeasurably to our knowledge of the 
Peruvian orchid flora. 
Cuzco: Prov. of Paucartambo, Pillahuata, epiphyte in rain-forest, 
at 3400 meters altitude, floral segments white lined with pink, De- 
cember 11, 1942, C. Vargas 3010; Prov. of Convencion, hills of Pin- 
tobamba, in humus of forest, at about 2400 meters altitude, perianth 
white with pinkish lip, March 3, 4, 1943, C. Vargas 3288 (Typw in 
Herb. Ames No. 65952). 
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