HOT ORCHIDS. 147 
curious. At some time, not distant, a quantity of 
R. coccinea must have found its way to the neigh- 
bourhood of Rio. There it flourishes as a weed, 
with a vigour quite unparalleled in its native soil. 
Unscrupulous persons take advantage of this 
extraordinary accident. From a country so near 
and so readily accessible they can get plants home, 
pot them up, and sell them, before the withering 
process sets in. May this revelation confound 
such knavish tricks! The moral is old—buy 
your orchids from one of the great dealers, if you 
do not care to “establish ” them yourself. 
R. coccinea is another of the climbing species, 
and it demands, even more urgently than V. éeves, 
to reach the top of the house, where sunshine is 
fiercest, before blooming. Under the best condi- 
tions, indeed, it is slow to produce its noble 
wreaths of flower—deep red, crimson, and orange. 
Upon the other hand, the plant itself is orna- 
mental, and it grows very fast. The Duke of 
Devonshire has some at Chatsworth which 
never fail to make a gorgeous show in their 
season; but they stand twenty feet high, twisted 
round birch-trees, and they have occupied their 
present quarters for half a century or near it. 
There is but one more species in the genus, so far 
as the unlearned know, but this, generally 
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