122 ABOUT ORCHIDS: 
Dawson, of Meadowbank, a famous collector, and 
by him it was divided. Search was made for the 
treasure in its home, but vainly ; travellers did not 
look in the Indian gardens. No more arrived for 
many years, Mr. Sander once conceived a fine idea. 
He sent one of his collectors to gather Lela a. alba 
at the season when it is in bud, with an intention 
of startling the universe by displaying a mass 
of them in full bloom; they were still more un- 
common then than now, when a dozen flowering 
plants is still a show of which kings may be 
proud. Mr. Bartholomeus punctually fulfilled his 
instructions, collected some forty plants with their 
spikes well developed; attached them to strips of 
wood which he nailed across shallow boxes, and 
shipped them to San Francisco. Thence they 
travelled by fast train to New York, and proceeded 
without a moment’s delay to Liverpool on board ~ 
the Umbria; it was one of her first trips. All 
went well. Confidently did Mr. Sander anticipate 
the sensation when a score of those glorious 
plants were set outin full bloom upon the tables. 
But on opening the boxes he found’every spike 
withered. The experiment is so tempting that it 
has been essayed once more, with a like result. 
The buds of Lelia anceps will not stand sea air. 
Catasetums do not rank as a genus among our 
