158 
Straits Settlements. It may be taken that it requires at least 20 years | 
with a suitable staff and sufficient funds to make a practical and well- 
stocked Botanic Garden and the longer it lasts and the more con- 
tinuous its existence in a well found condition, the greater its value. 
The uncertainty of continuity naturally prevents the Botanist in 
charge from carrying out satisfactorily researches on slow-growing 
trees or any of that most important series of investigations which 
‘require many years of continuous experiment and observation for 
their solution, but this must be obvious to every thinking person. 
“The story, which is as historically accurate as the author has 
been able to make it, will, he thinks, be read with astonishment an 
interest by many agriculturists and botanists. It is a history of 
enthusiasm, energy and hard work of men who devoted themselves 
heart and soul to the progress of agriculture and built up Gardens 
for this purpose which were destroyed ruthlessly after the enthusiast 
was gone, with the inevitable result of delay of progress, failure ot 
agriculture and catastrophe.” 
XXIII—NEW ORCHIDS: DECADE 35. 
341. Bulbophyllum nigrescens, Rolfe; a B. secundo, Hook, f., 
differt 
floribus duplo majoribus : 
Rhizoma repens. Pseudobulbi depresso-ovoidei, circa 1*5 em. 
longi, 1°5-1°8 em. lati, monophylli. Folia breviter petiolata, 
oblonga vel lineari-oblonga, subobtusa, subcoriacea, 5-11 cm. longa, 
12-15 cm. lata. Scapi graciles, pallidi, basi vaginis paucis 
obtecti; racemi 8-10 cm. longi, multiflori. Bracteae oblongo- 
lanceolatae, acutae, 2 mm.longae. Pedicelli 5-7 mm. longi. Flores 
penduli. Sepala subpatentia, elliptico-oblonga, obtusa, 6-8 mm. 
longa, intus hirsutula; lateralia postico paullo latiora. Petala 
342, Megaclinium lutescens, Rolfe; a M. minuto, Rolfe, rhachi 
duplo angustiore, sepalo postico acuminato facile distineuendum. 
Rhizoma repens, subgracile. Pseudobulbi subdistantes, ovoideo- 
oblongi, tetragoni, circiter 1°5 em, longi, diphylli. Folia sessilia, 
anguste oblonga, obtusa, subcoriacea, 2-3°5 cm. . 5-7 mm. lata. 
Scapi subpatentes, 3-4 cm, longi ; rhachis angustissima, scaberula, 
2-3 cm. longa, marginibus obtusis. Bracteae reflexae, triangulari- 
oblongae, acutae, 2 mm. longae. Pedicelli 2 mm. longi. Sepala 
extus scaberula ; sepalum posticum elliptico-oblongum, acutum, 
concavum, circiter 5 mm. longum; sepala lateralia oblique ovato- 
