1893 SOME NEW BOOKS. 153 



The Genus Masdevallia. Issued by the Marquess of Lothian. Plates and 

 descriptions by Miss Florence H. Wool ward. Part IV. London: R.H.Porter, 

 1893. Price £1 los. 



Masdevallias form a favourite genus with orchid growers, and are, 

 besides, of great interest from a botanical point of view. They are 

 confined to tropical America, inhabiting chiefly the damp higher 

 regions of the Andes, but ranging up into Central America and 

 southwards as far as Rio Janeiro. Though, speaking systematically, 

 a good genus, it includes species widely different in appearance. 

 Contrast, for instance, the brilliant Masdevallia Harvyana, one of the most 

 common in cultivation, with its broad-spreading perianth limbs, with 

 the more sombre-coloured il/. coriacea and it allies, where the perianth 

 takes the form of an open fleshy cup ; or, on the other hand, with the 

 gorgeous M. bella, where the lip, no longer inconspicuous or hid within the 

 tube, forms in its shell-like beauty a striking characteristic of the 

 flower. The range of colour is as wade as that of form. Now a plain 

 scarlet or orange, or, alas ! even magenta, an almost pure yellow, or, 

 but rarely, white; now, on the other hand, a rich blending of citron 

 and crimson lake as a background to the pure white lip. To all of 

 these Miss Wool ward does ample justice in the beautiful plates 

 which accompany and interpret the descriptions of every species. 



Much of the material for the work is from Lord Lothian's own 

 collection of orchids at Newbattle Abbey ; but Miss Woolward has 

 also had the advantage of specimens, both living and dried, from orchid 

 growers and in herbaria, for purposes of comparison and description. 

 The carefully-drawn floral dissections on each plate will be invaluable 

 to the botanist. Consul Lehmann (German Consul in the Republic of 

 Colombia) has supplied interesting notes on the habitat of those 

 species with which he is acquainted in their native homes. The pre- 

 sent number also includes a species from Brazil, which has not yet 

 reached Europe, but drawings and descriptions of which have been 

 supplied by Professor Rodriguez, the Director of the Gardens at Rio 

 Janeiro. In the same issue a new species is described, a striking 

 plant near M. elephanticeps, and apparently imported by Mr. Bull mixed 

 with the latter plant, as it w-as purchased from him under that name. 



Part IV,, like its three predecessors, contains ten species, bringing 

 the whole number up to forty, and we understand that Part V. is well 

 on the way. 



Illustrations of the Typical Specimens of Lepidoptera Heterocera in the 

 Collection of the British Museum. Part IX. The Macrolepidoptera 

 Heterocera of Ceylon. By George Francis Hampson. 4to. Pp. vi., 182, 

 pis. clvii.-clxxvi. London : Published by the Trustees of the British Museum, 

 1893- 



This ninth part of the British Museum Catalogue is devoted to the 

 Macrolepidoptera Heterocera of Ceylon, and consists of a " General 

 Systematic List," followed by "descriptions of species figured," 

 containing a formidable number of new genera. There is an interes- 

 ting illustration of protective mimicry shown by the caterpillar of 

 Cornihcena biplagiata, in which the sides of each somite are produced 

 into fleshy processes, upon which the larva fastens small pieces of 

 withered leaves and sticks as a disguise. It may be as well to 

 mention that this information occurs on p. 145, for as is usual in this 

 series of volumes there is no index, and one has to hunt through page 

 after page of text to find the details required. 



