256 A'utcs oil Jungle and Other Wild Life. 



much pleasure in watching' my plants grow, in their various odd 

 fashions, and had a good time with them. Most were epiphytes 

 and, wired to an old stump or tree, or suspended in improvised 

 containers from any overliead sup])ort, flourished exceedingly. 

 \ few grow honestly and in approved manner from a bed of 

 sand; but these were regarded as rare. 



Rodway has pointed out how often the species of a 

 particular genus inhabit the different life-planes of the Guiana 

 jungle. Take, for example, the genus Casctuin, of which 

 ('. discolor is i)robably the oldest form. This pale, yellow- 

 green variety, with its hood-like ffowers, prefers sand-reefs and 

 old charcoal pits. C. inacrocarpum- " has made a leap upward, 

 and lodged itself in the lower branches of trees, often just 

 above the surface of creek or swamp, while C". longifolinm has 

 got to the top of the Eta palm and settled under its crown." 



After receiving in the neighbourhood of twenty bites for 

 every ])lant at whose capture 1 assisted, 1 decided to collect no 

 more until 1 was able to acquire by purchase something rich 

 and rare in the orchid line. L'inally the opportunity presented 

 itself, and I now rest from my labours, because, outside one 

 of E's windows, and securely fastened to the jalousie thereof 

 i.j one of the most beautiful, if not an exceedingly rare specimen, 

 of Cattlcya z'iolacca sul^erba from the distant Rupununi. It 

 licars, in addition to a number of buds of promise, five lovely 

 rosy-purple flowers, each about five inches across and borne on 

 the apex of a club-shaped bulb, the latter attended by two thick, 

 rigid, shiny leaves. Even if we have no additional blooms, we 

 rejoice in the present radiance of these glorious flow^ers, and 

 when we leave the colony we shall present this rare plant to 

 someone who will cherish its aristocratic loveliness and who 

 will, 1 am sure, be rewarded by a renewal of its purple glory. 



And now it is time to say farewell to both South America 

 and to you: and if we three never meet again, I hope two of 

 iis had a good gossip about the "' thing's that are." 



CASEY A. WOOD. 



P.S. — The normal human being delights in the experience 

 cf a " one-man" comi)anionsliip of whatever sex or species. 

 That is the reason for admiring" the attachment of tlie soldier 

 for his horse, of the hunter for his dog. J-fe who goes through 



