156 ORCHIDS OF THE SIKKIM-HIMALAYA. 
4. . AGROSTOPHYLLUM BREVIPES, King and Pantling. 
Rhizome thin, covered with spreading subulate scales. Stems 10 to 12 in. long, 
erect, elavate, rising from the rhizome about an inch apart, slightly compressed, clothed 
in the lower half with large imbricate membranous sheaths about 1 in. long. Leaves 
membranous, linear-oblong, widest at the sessile sheathing base; the apex sub-acute, 
minutely bifid; length 1:5 to 5 in., breadth :2 to :35 in. „Head °75 in. іп diam., 
composed of numerous 2-flowered pedicels on a very short common peduncle. Flowers +25 
in. in diam., white. Sepals sub-equal. Petals sub-orbicular, 5-nerved. Lip about the same 
length, oblong, 3-lobed, concave, not spurred or saccate; the lateral lobes broad and 
rounded with a large callus between them and two smaller conical calli between these 
and the oblong shortly bifid smooth terminal lobe. Column short, slightly winged near 
the apex, the foot very short, the clinandrium dentate. Lip of anther acute. Pollinia 8, 
unequal, all cohering by a short caudicle to a small cordate gland. Capsule narrowly 
ellipsoid, “35 in. long. A. callosum, Reichb. fil. Hook. fil. Fl. Br. Ind. V, 824 (е part). 
Sikkim, at elevations of about 2,000 feet; in flower during June and July; 
Pantling, No. 34. 
All the parts of the flower in this species are white, with the exception of the 
column and anther which are dark crimson. ‘This species differs from true A. callosum, 
Reichb. fil, wich which it has hitherto been confused, in being a smaller plant, with 
stems half the length of those of true A. callosum, fewer and shorter leaves, smaller 
flowers in smaller heads, a winged column with a longer foot, and a fully developed 
cordate polliniar gland. This moreover is practically a tropical species, not ascending to 
more than 2,000 feet; whereas true А. callosum occurs at elevations of about 6,000 feet. 
Pirate 213.—Agrostophylium brevipes, King and Pantling. А plant; of natural size. Fig. 1 
side view of a flower with its bract, attached to its pedicel, the other flower being cut off, 2 apex 
of column, anther and lip, side view, З lip 4 column and anther, 5 under surface of empty anther, 
0 pollinia; ай enlarged. 
29. Ritaia, n. gen. King and Pantling. 
Epiphytal; stem much and sub-dichotomously branched, densely clothed with scarious 
sheaths; the branches short and bearing a terminal, sheathed, 1- or 2-flowered peduncle. 
Leaf fleshy, lanceolate, jointed to the axis at the end of a branch. Flowers small, 
puberulous. Lateral sepals with broad bases adnate to the produced foot of the 
column, and with acuminate connivent apices. Lip adnate by its margins to the column 
and its foot and forming with them a wide short sac septate and pubescent at the 
mouth; its anterior part very fleshy, convex, entire, sub-orbicular. Ал ег on the apex 
of the column broad, depressed, 8-celled. Pollinia 8, unequal (four being smaller) united 
by fours to a single elongate gland. 
A genus resembling Appendicula to some extent in habit, but with more branching stems and a 
fewer-flowered inflorescence. It differs widely from Appendicula, however, in having the anther on the 
summit of the column instead of on the back of it; in having 4 pollinia instead of 8; in having a 
septum at the mouth of the sac formed by the adhesion of the edges of the lower part of the lip to 
the column; and in the anterior part of the lip being a solid fleshy sub-orbicular mass We have 
dedicatel the genus to Mr. Rita, of the Khasia Commission, an enthusiastic collector of orchids, to 
whom we are much beholden for most efficient assistance in the exploration of the Orchid Flora of 
the Khasia Hills. 
