5° 



THE ORCHIDS OF NEW ENGLAND. 



formed by the decaying leaves gives birth to this bright hued 

 Orchid. 



Even when her sanctuary is discovered, Calypso does not al- 

 ways reveal herself. The ground and the fallen tree-trunks are 

 thickly padded with moss and embroidered with trailing vines 

 of Snowberry and Linnea ; Painted Trilliums dot with their 

 white stars the shadows lying under the tangled, fragrant 

 branches; the silence of the forest, disturbed only by the chirr 

 of a squirrel or the sudden jubilance of the oven-bird, envel- 

 ops you and seems the appropriate accompaniment of such an 

 expedition. You follow, perhaps, a winding path made by 

 the wild animals among the underbrush; moving slowly, or 

 you easily overlook the dainty blossom, nestling in some soft, 

 damp nook, and poised lightly on its stem as if ready to flut- 

 ter away between your covetous fingers ; and when in the 

 presence of the goddess you are compelled to stoop, whatever 

 title of dignity you may wear. Come a week later, and she has 

 vanished : the plantain-like leaf has shrivelled also, and it 

 will be three months before another arises to tell where the 

 tiny white bulb is secreted. Take up the bulb and wonder, as 

 I am sure you will, how it survives the frosts and snows, it 

 slips so readily out of its loose bed. You will, doubtless, feel 

 repaid for a day's journey by the sight of a single specimen, 

 and will not wonder that the pretty recluse has so wide a 

 reputation. The most favored person I have yet heard of is 

 Professor Scribner, of Girard College, who informs me that once 

 in Maine, he came on a place, " not a foot square, containing 

 over fifty plants in bloom." 



Some verses by Professor Bailey of Providence, that have been 

 reprinted several times since they first appeared in the N. Y. 

 Evening Post, deserve quotation whenever Calypso is mentioned, 

 if for no other reason than to prove that a botanist may love 

 the object of his study for its own own sake. Struck by their 

 out-door flavor and picturesqucness, I committed them to mem- 



