260 J^olices of new and beautiful Plants 



vol. XII., fol. 966, in April, 1826, is the following note under 

 Catasetum cristatum: — 



' ' ' The importance of the peculiarity which exists in the label- 

 lum (namely, its flattened, or furzed and crested state,) is mani- 

 fested in a singular manner by a curious monster of this plant, 

 which we have observed on an individual in the Horticultural 

 Society's Garden. Among flowers of the ordinary structure 

 two or three others were observed, in which the labellum was 

 precisely of the same nature as that of Catasetum tridentatum; 

 that is to say, destitute of the crested appendage, and perfectly 

 galeate and naked.' 



" This, I repeat, appeared to me so extraordinary a statement, 

 especially as after seven years it had never been corroborated by 

 any other case of the kind, that I concluded I must have made 

 some mistake, and I accordingly formed the genus J\Iyanthus 

 out of a species nearly allied to the very Catasetum cristatum, 

 which, in 1826, I had seen sporting back to C. tridentatum. 



"Not content with this, I added the genus J\Ionachanthus, dis- 

 tinguishing it from Catasetum, by the want of cirrhi on its 

 column, and by its penanth being turned back; and when the 

 original species, J\I. viridis, was sent to me from Wentworth, 

 previously to the publication in this work, fol. 1752, I felt no 

 doubt of its being an entirely distinct plant. Even when Lord 

 Fitzwilliam assured me that it was beyond all doubt an accidental 

 sport of Catasetum tridentatum^ I still adhered to my idea that 

 an imported plant of JMonachanthus viridis had been accidentally 

 taken for the latter common species. Nor do I think that, as 

 a botanist, I was to be blamed for these errors; the genera being 

 founded upon characters which were apparently important, and 

 which most assuredly no one could a priori have suspected could 

 pass into each other, in the manner that has now been seen. If, 

 however, it should be thought that I ought to have been aware of 

 such metamorphoses, I at least have lost no time in acknowledg- 

 ing the mistakes, and putting others on their guard against them 

 for the future." 



After describing the way in which they pass into each other, 

 wjiich would not be undeistood very well without the accompany- 

 ing plate. Dr. Lindley states that "the necessary consequence is, 

 that the supposed genera Mijanthiis and JMonachanthus must be re- 

 stored to Catasetum, and 1 have no doubt now, although no proof 

 has been seen of it, that Mormodts must share the same fate. But 

 which of the species have their masks on, and which shew their 

 real faces, I certainly will not at present presume to guess." 



Mr. Schomburgh, of Demarara, has lately found a specimen of 

 Monachanthus, sporting to a crested Myanthus. Such singular 

 deviations from nature we deem it our duty to record, for the 

 benefit of American botanists and amateurs who may not all pos- 

 sess this work. {Rot. Reg., April.) 



