NATURE AND HABITS OF ORCHIDS. 2/ 



both hot and damp, where they are not plentiful. It 

 may however be remarked, that the terrestrial Orchids 

 will bear a far greater degree of cold and drought than 

 the epiphytal species, their range is therefore much 

 greater, and the general remarks about Orchids must be 

 taken with a great degree of allowance in respect to this 

 class. 



Notwithstanding the high temperature of Africa, they 

 are unknown in the sandy deserts and parched atmos- 

 phere ; yet they abound in Sierre Leone, where the cli- 

 mate is damp and are not infrequent in the jungles at 

 the Cape of Good Hope. 



In the West India Islands, they exist in great quanti- 

 ties, particularly in Jamaica and Trinidad, not however 

 so much on the coast as on the lower ranges of hills. 



At Rio Janeiro the mean temperature is 74 3' and 

 much higher inland ; the woods are so damp it is impos- 

 sible to dry plants ; and in such situations multitudes of 

 Orchidaceous plants occur. In the immediate vicinity of 

 Buenos Ayres, however, where the mean temperature is 

 67 6' and the air dry, epiphytes are unknown. No 

 country, however, exhibits in a more striking manner 

 than the East Indies the necessity of a hot and damp 

 climate for the production of epiphytes. In the Malayan 

 Archipelago, the mean temperature of which is estimated 

 at between 77 and 78, where the atmosphere is always 

 very damp, they are found in profusion. In Nepaul, 

 they occur upon the sides of the lower mountains, where 

 they grow amongst clouds and constant showers, while on 

 the continent of India they are almost wholly unknown, 

 except in the mountain valleys. 



In Mexico and Central America, the provinces most 



