ORCHIDACEiE 



that it is more properly a species of Erythrodes Blume, than of 

 Herpysma Lindl., differing from all the other species of the 

 former genus, of which I have any knowledge, in the lamellae of 

 the labellum and in the two wart-like excrescences within the 

 didymous sac or spur. Herpysma, it is true, has a bilamellate 

 labellum, which, as in Erythrodes, is adherent to the gynoste- 

 mium, but all the other characters of the species under consider- 

 ation indicate clear affinity with the latter genus. 



As now understood Erythrodes receives the Old World spe- 

 cies placed by some authors in Physurus L. C. Rich. There is a 

 marked difference between these genera, and it seems desirable 

 to restrict Physurus to the western hemisphere (at least until 

 a more decided agreement between it and Erythrodes is discov- 

 ered), on the basis that geographical limits, when accompanied 

 by strongly pronounced structural differences, are quite reliable 

 in the differentiation of genera. 



In Kachtrdge zur Flora der deutschen Schutzgebiete in der 

 Siidsee (Schumann & Lauterbach), Dr. Rudolf Schlechter dis- 

 cusses briefly the relationship between Erythrodes and Physurus, 

 and in conformity with his views places in Erythrodes the follow- 

 ing species: Physurus bracteatus Blume, P. Blumei\And\., P. 

 viridifiorus Lindl., and P. Henryi Rolfe; and he describes and 

 figures two new species from Kaiser- Wilhelmsland, namely, Ery- 

 throdes papuana and E. purpurascens. J. J. Smith in Bulletin du 

 Depcu^tement de lAgiiculture aux Indes Neerlandaises, in his 

 first supplement to Die Orchideen von Java, agrees with Schlech- 

 ter's views and places the Javan Physurus humilis Blume in Ery- 

 throdes. The didymous sac or spur of the labellum of the Old 

 World species is a constant differentiating character, according 

 to Schlechter's studies never occurring in the species of Physurus 

 of the New World. Furthermore, the gynostemium is supposed 



[80] 



