8 



suiting the various works enumerated in another portion of this 

 treatise, though, unfortunately, the best of them are too expensive 

 to be included in many private libraries. 



ORCHID LIFE. 



PLANT-LIFE in all its forms is invested with a remarkable interest, 

 and none can undertake the study of a small family, or even a 

 genus, without becoming fully conscious that there are " ,.iore 

 wonders in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in our philosophy." 

 Perhaps no natural order could be selected to illustrate this 

 better than the Orchids, and none can investigate their wonders 

 so briefly or imperfectly that they will fail to be impressed with 

 its trr.th. Descriptions are, however, comparatively useless 

 without an examination of living specimens, and all who may 

 peruse the following notes with the desire of clearly under- 

 standing Orchid structure should closely observe the plants and 

 flowers in a living state. 



Flowering Plants are divided into two large classes, distinguished 

 by well marked characters, and with a few exceptions it is not 

 difficult to determine in which a plant should be included. These 

 are termed respectively (i) Dicotyledons or Exogens, and (2) 

 Monocotyledons or Endogens ; the first is broadly distinguished 

 by the production of two or more seed leaves in germination ; the 

 iormation of young wood on the outer part of the stem under the 

 bark ; the possession of leaves with netted veins and flowers 

 with sepals, petals, and stamens in fours or fives, or some 

 multiple of these numbers. The second class is denoted by the 

 production of only one seed leaf, by a very different mode of 

 growth, the additions being first made in the centre of the stem, 

 and then passing outwards ; the absence of a true bark, the leaves 

 having the veins parallel except in one group, and the flowers 

 have their parts arranged in threes. To the latter (the Mono- 

 cotyledons) the Orchid family is assigned, but a person who had 

 never seen an Orchid flower before, and was unacquainted with 

 its characters, would find great difficulty in deciding its proper 

 position in the vegetable kingdom. The large and beautiful 

 family of the Irises, the Amaryllises, and the Lilies would be much 

 more easily recognised in this respect, for such great changes 

 have been effected in the floral structure of the Orchids that the 



