242 THE WOODLANDS ORCHIDS 



stand this treatment. In very few years more Oncidium 

 splendidum had vanished. 



No one knew where it came from — with a strange 

 carelessness MM. Thibaud and Ketteler had not inquired. 

 M. Herman was dead, and he left no record of the circum- 

 stances. The captain could not be traced. Had the name 

 of his ship been preserved, it might have furnished a hint, 

 since the port of sailing would be registered in the Custom 

 House. More than one enterprising dealer made inquiries, 

 but it was too late to recover the trail. Oncidium splendidum 

 took its place for a while among the lost orchids. 



But Mr. Sander of St. Albans would not admit defeat. 

 When, after great pains, he had satisfied himself that 

 nothing could be discovered at St. Lazare or at Sceaux, he 

 examined the internal evidence. In the first place, an 

 Oncidium must needs be American, since the genus is not 

 found in the Old World. This species also must dwell in a 

 hot climate ; leaves so rigid and fieshy are designed to bear 

 a scorching sun. But the possibilities seemed almost bound- 

 less, even thus limited. Patiently and thoughtfully Mr. 

 Sander worked out a process of exhaustion. Mexico might 

 be neglected, for a time at least ; those hunting-grounds 

 had been so often explored that some one must surely have 

 come across a flower so conspicuous. So it was with New 

 Grenada. Brazilian Cattleyas have thick, hard leaves, 

 though not to compare with this Oncidium ; but they form 

 a single genus which shows the peculiarity among hundreds 

 which do not. Brazil, therefore, might be excluded for the 

 present. The astonishing wealth of Peru in varieties of 

 orchid was not suspected then. After such careful thought 

 as a man of business allows himself when tempted by a 

 speculation which may cost thousands of pounds, Mr. Sander 

 determined that, upon the whole, Central America was the 

 most likely spot ; and again, after more balancing of the 



