IIO ABOUT OR CHIDS. 
The first name that arises to most people in 
thinking of warm orchids is Cattleya, and natu- 
rally. The genus Odontoglossum alone has more 
representatives under cultivation. Sixty species of 
Cattleya are grown by amateurs who pay special 
attention to these plants; as for the number of 
“varieties” in a single species, one boasts forty, 
another thirty, several pass the round dozen. They 
are exclusively American, but they flourish over 
all the enormous space between Mexico and the 
Argentine Republic. The genus is not a favourite 
of my own, for somewhat of the same reason 
which qualifies my regard for O. vexdlarium. 
Cattleyas are so obtrusively beautiful, they have 
such great flowers, which they thrust upon the eye 
with such assurance of admiration! Theirs is a 
style of effect—I refer to the majority—which may 
be called infantine ; such as an intelligent and 
tasteful child might conceive if he had no fine 
sense of colour, and were too young to distinguish 
a showy from a charming form. But I say no 
more. 
The history of Orchids long established is un- 
certain, but I believe that the very first Cattleya 
which appeared in Europe was C. vzolacea Loddt- 
gesi, imported by the great firm whose name it 
bears, to which we owe such a heavy debt. Two 
