FLOWERING OF ORCHIDEJ^. 483 



dance from the forks of the trees, and the fine Phajus 

 that I have already spoken of rearing its magnificent 

 head in the gloom of the bush. The rose-coloured 

 Bletia of Bluefields Mountain, which at the com- 

 mencement of the drought showed only the withered 

 leaves crowning the round compacted bulbs, was in 

 full flower at the latter part of this period ; and it 

 was in March of the following year, a season even 

 more arid than the former, that I met with the pro- 

 fuse blossom of the lovely purple Bletia, growing on 

 a precipitous rock on the banks of the Rio Cobre. 

 Tow^ards the end of the dry period I saw Epid. fra- 

 grans and Ep. cochleatum in blossom on open trees 

 in the beautiful park-like pen called the Kepp, in the 

 Luana Mountains; and, a little later, Brasavola nodosa 

 flowered at Bluefields, where it is abundant. It is 

 worthy of remark that I had found this species in 

 blossom at Alligator Pond in company with Brough- 

 tonia sanguinea, during the early part of December, 

 when it rained nearly every day ; yet around Blue- 

 fields, while the latter, as already mentioned, was 

 flowering profusely, the former was flowerless until 

 the beginning of March. 



At the same time many kinds were out of bloom 

 throughout this season, some of which flowered soon, 

 after the commencement of the vernal rains. Maxil- 

 laria Barringtonia, whose great wrinkled bulbs had 

 been conspicuous on the mountain trunks, threw out 

 its fleshy flowers from among the roots about the 

 end of March, and continued flowering through April. 

 A little later, the long spikes of Oncidium Cartha- 

 ginense were waving in the breeze all through the 



