196 MR. SCOTT Elliot's tropical African orchids. 



bracts are 3-4 lines, the ovary and stalk about 1 in. The sepals 

 are 3^-4 lines long by If to scarcely 2 broad, the petals 6-7 lines 

 each way. The lip-wings are 2^ lines long by 2 broad, the central 

 lobe 5 by 4^ lines. The three large swollen rounded crests occupy 

 the upper surface to within 1 line from the apex ; a pair of 

 thickened veins also run forwards on each side from the base 

 of the disc. The column is 2 lines long. The pollinia are attached 

 by a short narrow band to the broad rostellar disc. 



Is very near the Abyssinian L. (iramticua Rchb. f., but is a 

 much smaller plant, and differs also in its round very blunt petals, 

 longer wings to the lip, and very large swollen crests. 



Lissochilus pulchellus, sp. nov. Parva, racemo elongato e 

 bracteis vaginantibus orto ; bracteis florentibus anguste triangulo- 

 setaceis quam ovaria pedicellata dimidio breviorihus ; floribus inter 

 minores, sepalo dorsali ligulato-oblanceolato abrupte apiculato 

 3-nei'vio, lateralibus ligulatis ; petalis ovatis obtusis apiculatis, 

 labello alis brevibus truncatis, lobo medio orbiculari emarginato, 

 disco cristis septenis instructo, sacco magno a calcare conico brevi 

 terminato; columna brevi clavata. 



Hah. Dry places, after burning ; Kibwera, Urigi, Karagwe 

 country, 4-5000 ft., Sept. (first showers of rainy season), 1894, 

 No. 8126. 



A small plant, 8-9 in. long, the naked stem bearing flowers to 

 within 3 in. of the base, the lower internodes being short and hidden 

 by the closely sheathing bracts ; the latter are about 1 in. long, 

 with their edges free in the upper half, and an acute apex. The 

 flowering-bracts are about ^ in. long ; the sleader pedicel and ovary 

 f in. before fertilization, after which the flower becomes bent 

 vertically downwards as the ovary swells. The sepals are 4 lines 

 long by 1^ broad, the petals 4^^ by 3i-. The short broad wings of 

 the labelium form the sides of a large sac, ending in a spur of 

 about 1 line ; the central lobe is 3 lines by 3J ; its disc is crowned 

 by 7 blunt diverging crests, which are continued as slender keels 

 down the anterior margin of the sac. The column is nearly 2 lines 

 long. 



Is near Lissochilus microceras Rchb. f., but has larger flowers, 

 with ovate not oblong petals, and a roundish not obovate median 

 lobe to the lip. 



Mr. Elliot tells me that this plant illustrates a characteristic of 

 the vegetation of parts of Tropical Africa and Nyasa-land. Having 

 some store of nourishment beneath the ground, it is able to spring 

 up with the first showers which usher in the rainy season. The 

 flowers are thus exposed before the grasses get a start, and during 

 the short dry interval before the rains begin in good earnest are 

 very conspicuous. After flowering, the leaves shoot up along with 

 the grasses in the wet season which has then set in. 



Lissochilus parvulus, sp. nov. Parva, caule tenui fere ad 

 basin vaginatam florifera ; bracteis triangulo-setaceis quam pedi- 

 celli tenues dimidio minoribus ; floribus parvulis, sepalo dorsali 

 ligulato acuto, lateralibus anguste oblongis obtusiusculis ; petalis 

 ovatis obtusis, labello infra medium 3-lobo, lobis lateralibus brevi- 



