164 ABOU ORCHIDS. 
dotted with pale yellow flowers. He had beheld 
the same many times, but his business was orchids. 
On this occasion, however, he chanced to approach 
one of the masses, and recognized the object of 
his quest. It was the familiar case of aman who 
overlooks the thing he has to find, because it is 
too near andtoo conspicuous. But Mr. Oversluys 
had excuse enough. Who could have expected 
to see an Oncidium buried in long grass, exposed 
to the full power of a tropic sun ? 
Oncidium Lanceanum is, perhaps, the hottest of 
its genus. Those happy mortals who can grow 
it declare they have no trouble, but unless per- 
fectly strong and healthy it gets “the spot,” and 
promptly goes to wreck. In the houses of the 
“New Plant and Bulb Company,” at Colchester— 
now extinct—Oznc. Lanceanum flourished with a 
vigour almost embarrassing, putting forth such 
enormous leaves, as it hung close to the glass, as 
made blinds quite superfluous at midsummer. 
But this was an extraordinary case. Certainly it 
is a glorious spectacle in flower—yellow, barred 
with brown; the lip violet. The spikes last a 
month in full beauty—sometimes two. 
An Oncidium which always commands atten- 
tion from the public and grateful regard from the 
devotee is Onc. papilio. Its strange form fascinated 
