16 ORCHIDS OF THE SIKKIM-HIMALAYA. 
9, Місковтумв WaLuicHi, Lindl, in Wall. Cat. No. 1938. 
Stem about 3 in. long, with a few sheaths below. eaves three or four, thinly 
membranous, ovate-lanceolate, acute or acuminate, narrowed to the sheathing base, the 
upper sessile, the lower with sheathing petioles 1:5 to 25 in. long; the edges much 
undulate; length 3 to 4°5 in., breadth 15 to 2 in. Inflorescence 9 to 12 in. long; 
the peduncle shorter than the raceme, ribbed; raceme laxly many-flowered; the Дога! 
bracts lanceolate, one-half `of the length of the stalked ovaries. Flowers yellowish. 
green in colour, *5 in. long. Szpals oblong, the dorsal narrower, sub-acute; the 
laterals broader, obtuse. Petals linear, blunt, the margins, like those of the sepals, 
recurved. Lip slightly convex, narrowly ovate in general outline; the basal lobes (or 
auricles) lanceolate, their inner edges straight and parallel to each other, separated by 
a space equal to about the width of the dorsal sepal. Zip not constricted so as to 
form a distinct anterior lobe; its apex flat,or slightly incurved at the notch. Column 
with very fleshy rounded arms. Lindl. Gen. and Spec. Orchid., 20; Hook. fil. Fl. 
Br. Ind, V, 686; in Ann. Bot. Gard. Cale. V, pt. 1, t. 2, figures 1 and 2 (excl. 
syn., M. biloba). Maluxis acuminata, Don Prod. Flor. Nep. 29. 
Himalaya from Simla to Sikkim, at elevations of from 5,000 to 7,000 feet; 
Pantling No. 448; flowering in Sikkim from June to September; also in the Khasia 
Hills and Ceylon; Thwaites C. P. No. 2375. 
Of his catalogue No. 1938, Wallich issued two sets, one distinguished as 1 from 
Nepal, and the other distinguished as 2 from Sylhet (probably really from the Khasia 
Mills. The plant here figured agrees exactly as regards its lip with the sheet of Wall. 
Cat. 1938, 1 in the Caleutta Herbarium; but it differs from Sir Joseph Hooker's drawing 
(fig. C, Ann. Bot. Gard. Calc., V, pt. 1, plate 2), which represents the lip of the sheet 
bearing that number in the Kew Herbarium,—a circumstance which proves that (as in 
so many other cases) there has been some mixing amongst the Wallichian specimens. 
The picture of the plant itself, and both figs. A and B on plate 2 of the Calcutta 
Annals, are accepted by Sir Joseph Hooker as representatives of the true М. Wallichii, 
and these agree practically with the figure here given. And an examination of one 
hundredliving specimens shows that there is no tangible variation in the lip worthy of 
record. The distinctions between this species and M. biloba, Lindl., are given in our 
account of the latter which we treat as a variety of this. Jf. Wailichii is abundant at 
elevations between 5,000 and 6,000 feet in the Government Cinehona Plantation 
in Sikkim; but 16 does not occur at lower elevations, its place being taken from about 
5,000 feet downwards to the bottoms of the valleys by the variety biloba. Тһе form 
of lip depicted by Sir Joseph Hooker in fig. C. of the plate in the Calcutta Annals 
above-quoted, represents the lip in the Kew specimen of 1938-1, and is no doubt, as Sir 
Joseph suggests, а form of М. Wallichii, In it the apex of the lip is obscurely 3-lobulate, 
and the basal lobes or auricles are divergent; the sepals also are unusually broad. 
Prare No. 18.—JDficrostylis Wallicnii, Lindl А plant, of natural size. Fig. 1 flower, front view, 
2 flower, back view, 3 column and apex of — 4 vertical section of the lip and column, б anther, 
6 pollinia; all enlarged. ` 
Var. biloba, Hook. fil. Fl. Br. Ind. V. 686; in Ann. Bot. Gard. Calc., Vol Му 2, t: 
2, fig. D; basal lobes of lip slightly falcate, conyerging so that the apices either meet 
or overlap; apical portion of lip abruptly bent forward and forming an obovate-oblong 
or sub-quadrate apical lobe divided at the extremity into two rounded parallel oblong 
