224 ABOUT ORCHIDS. 
Kong, and is vanishing fast on the mainland. It 
is still found occasionally in the garden of a 
peasant, who, we are told, resolutely declines to 
sell his treasure. This may seem incredible to 
those who know the Chinaman, but Mr. Roebelin 
vouches for the fact; it is one more eccentricity 
to the credit of that people, who had quite enough 
already. Collectors expect to find a new habitat 
of Cyp. purpuratum in Formosa when they are 
allowed to explore that realm. Even our native 
Cyp.calceolus has almost disappeared ; we get it now 
from Central Europe, but in several districts where 
it abounded the supply grows continually less. 
The same report comes from North America and 
Japan. Fortunate it is, but not surprising to the 
thoughtful observer, that this genus grows and 
multiplies with singular facility when its simple 
wants are supplied. There is no danger that a 
species which has been rescued from extinction will 
perish under human care. 
This seems contradictory. How should a plant 
thrive better under artificial conditions than in the 
spot where Nature placed it? . The reason lies in 
that archaic character of the Cypriped which 
Darwin pointed out. Its time has passed—Nature 
is improving it off the face of the earth, A 
sradual change of circumstances makes it more and 
