ON THE PHYLOGENY OF ORCHIDS. 481 
idea will not bear further consideration. It would be almost impossible 
to derive the peculiar type of Ophrydee@ from any epiphytic group of 
orchids, and it is improbable that the unarticulated leaves of the 
terrestrial forms arose from the articulated leaves of the epiphytes by 
reduction. On the contrary, it is much more likely that terrestrial 
orchids first arose from amaryllidaceous plants, like the now existing 
Conantheree and Philydracee, and that these, again, gave origin to the 
much more complicated epiphytic forms. 
We are far from any certain knowledge of the way in which the 
orchids have been developed from their ancestors. But perhaps the 
considerations I have had the honour to communicate here may lead 
others to further analyse this question, and so this paper may not be 
quite useless. 
