41 > 



\ 



Roxb. Girrhopetalum gracillimum, Kolfe, antedates G. psitta- 

 coides, RidL, by over a year, and if Girrhopetalum must be merged 

 in BulbophyUum the species must stand as B. gracillimum. 

 Coelogyne tomentosa, Wawra, is Lindley's plant of the same name, 

 and both it and G. Massangeana, Reichb. f., are quite distinct 

 from C. Dayana, Reichb. f. In short C. Dayana, RidL (not of 

 Reichb. f.), is, by his own cited specimens, G. tommtosa, Lindl. 

 Mr, Ridley is probably correct in uniting his Gymhidium acutum 

 and C. Simons ianum, King & Pantl., though the latter should 

 have been adopted as the earlier name. Fortunately both are 

 antedated by C. Dayamun, Reichb. f., described a quarter of a 

 century earlier. Renanthera alba, RidL, is R. Hookeriana, 

 Reichb. f. A very curious circumstance about Neuiviedia 

 Curtisii, Rolfe, is recorded by Mr. Ridley, namely, that it differs 

 from its allies in its fruit-being a " red, succulent berry," not a 

 capsule, and he identifies with it the Tupistra (?) singapureana> 

 Wall. Cat. n. 5,195. A comparison with the unique fruiting speci- 

 men in the Wallichian Herbarium now confirms the determination, 

 though, so far as can be seen from the dried specimen, which has 

 been somewhat damaged by insects, the structure of the fruit and 

 seeds does not differ in other respects. The history of the species 

 is thus carried back for over 60 years, and the name should now 

 stand as Neuiviedia singapvreana. 



The work forms an important contribution to Orchidology. 



R. A. R. 



Welwitschia— In connection with Professor Pearson's account 



or ins recent journev 

 the distribution of 



W 



discussed in some detail {Km Bulletin, No. 9, p. 347). It should 

 not be forgotten, however, that Welwitsch discovered this plant 

 in Angola near Cape Negro (lat. 15° 40' S.), in the year 1860. 

 During the autumn of 1861 and before Welwitsch's specimens 

 reached Kew, sketches and material of the same plant were 

 received from Baines, and also from Anderson, in Damara-land 

 at a spot about 500 miles to the south of Cape Negro. Both these 

 collections together with additional material sent to Kew by 

 Monteiro are described and figured in the Transactions of the 

 Linnean Society, vol. 24, p. l,by Dr. J. D. Hooker, and form the 

 material on which the genus Wehvitschia was founded. Accord- 

 ing to Monteiro, the northern limit of the genus is about 14° S. lat. 

 in the neighbourhood of Mossamedes, and a short account of the 

 nndmg of the plant, together with a plate, is given by him in his 

 book Angola and the River Congo, vol. II., pp. 228-281, pi. XV. 



Erratum. 



Jwratum.-Page 360 and cover of No. 9, /or »« Diagnoses Africans* : 

 -2U.Y. read " Diagnoses Africanae : XX." 



