8o THE WOODLANDS ORCHIDS 



Calk and a scarlet have been found — both of them on report 

 of Kaffirs. 



The story of Phalaenopsis Sanderiana is a striking 

 instance. Its allied species, grandiflora and amabilis, reached 

 Europe in 1836 and 1 847 respectively. Their snowy white- 

 ness and graceful habit prepared the world for a burst of 

 enthusiasm when Phalaenopsis Schilleriana, the earliest of the 

 coloured species, was brought from the Philippines in i860. 

 The Duke of Devonshire paid Messrs. Rollison a hundred 

 guineas for the first plant that flowered. Such a price was 

 startling then. Reported at Manila, it set the Spaniards 

 talking and inquiring. Messrs. Rollison had sent an agent 

 to collect Phalaenopsis there, who presently reported a scarlet 

 species ! No one he could find had seen it, but the natives 

 spoke confidently, and he hoped to forward a consignment 

 without delay. But years and years passed. The great 

 fi.rm of Rollison flourished, decayed, and vanished, but that 

 blessed consignment was never shipped. 



Other collectors visited the Philippines. They also 

 reported the wonder, on hearsay, and every mail brought 

 them reiterated instructions to find and send it at any cost. 

 Now here, now there, the pursuers hunted it to a corner ; 

 but when they closed, it was elsewhere. Meantime the 

 settled islands had been explored gradually. Many fine 

 things escaped attention, as we know at this day ; but a 

 flower so conspicuous, so eagerly demanded and described, 

 could not have been missed. As years went by, the red 

 Phalaenopsis became a joke. Interest degenerated into 

 mockery. 



As a matter of fact, it is very improbable that the plant 

 had ever been in Manila, or that a white man had beheld it. 

 For it is found only in an islet to the west of Mindanao, the 

 most southerly of the Philippine group. Mindanao itself 

 is not yet explored, much less occupied, though the 



