488 BLUEFIELDS. 



rocks, exposed to the unmitigated glare of the sun. 

 The tuberous kind with a similar habit, and the mag- 

 nificent Phajus Tankervillice, on the other hand, oc- 

 curred only in the deepest shadow of the dense humid 

 mountain woods. 



Specimens taken from one tree I found would grow 

 very well on another. I was accustomed to trans - 

 ]Dlant many of the masses brought from the moun- 

 tains and other distant localities, affixing them either 

 to logs of wood, or to fruit-trees in the pasture, or 

 else merely laying them on the flat top of a stone 

 buttress, with a brick or some other weight on them 

 to prevent their being blown away. The smaller spe- 

 cimens I pushed into crevices between the stones of 

 the same buttress. Those which I planted on fruit- 

 trees were fastened by string passed several times 

 round the trunk and the Orchid. In all these cases 

 the specimens grew healthily. The roots, which had 

 been torn from their attachments in procuring the 

 specimens, never adhered to the new surface, but 

 fresh roots were soon pushed out from the base of 

 the bulbs, which clung to the support by their flat- 

 tened under sides with the same tenacity as if they 

 had been on the original trees ; and after a few 

 months needed not the assistance of strings or weights 

 to enable them to maintain their position. Some- 

 times the mere laying of a bunch of bulbs in the fork 

 of an orange-tree was found sufficient. I do not 

 think the parasite is dependent on its tree for any- 

 thing but support ; the roots do not penetrate the 

 bark in the least degree, but derive all their nutri- 

 ment from the moisture with which the air is charged. 



