ORDER ORCHIDEjE, OR ORCHIS TRIBE. 517 



forests of South America that the epiphytic species (those that 

 grow upon the surface of trees) are found ; but in the hot damp 



Fio. 187- AKRIDES ARACHNOIDBS. 



parts of the East Indies, other kinds are very abundant. Some 

 epiphytic species are known as air-plants, from their power of 

 vegetating when simply suspended in the air, without any soil 

 or any direct supply of water, supported only by the moisture of 

 the atmosphere ; so that, when hung up by strings from the 

 ceiling of a room, they will live for weeks and even months, and 

 will go on blossoming luxuriantly. Hence they are some of the 

 most favourite ornaments of the houses in China and Japan, of 

 which countries they are natives. 



693. As the structure of the flower is that which is most 

 peculiar in this group, we shall proceed at once to a description 

 of it. The short peduncle on which the flower seems to be 

 borne, is in reality its ovarium, the position of which is inferior 



