69 
end, the body pale-brown and rugulose. Wall. Cat. 4448 (1832); Blume in Ann, 
Se. Nat. ser. 2, ii, 93 (1834); Miquel Fl. Ind. Bat. їі. 748 (1855); Thwaites Enum. 
Pl. Ceyl. 315 (1861); Rolfe in Journ. Linn. Soc. xxv. 997, t. 48, fig. 22 to 24 
(1889); in Orchid Review iv. 329 (1896); Нож. fil. Fl. Br. Ind. vi. 175 (1890). 
Mesodactylus deflexa Wall. ez РІ, As. Rar. 1. с. 74 (1830). 
Nepal, Sikkim, Khasia Hills, Assam, Ceylon, Malay Peninsula, Penang. 
This plant was excluded by Mr. Pantling and myself from the eighth volume 
of these Annals (Zhe Orchids of the Sikkim Himalaya) on the ground that the genus 
Aposiasia is doubtfully Orchidaceous. The regular perianth, the free, unmodified 
anthers, style and stigma, the free pollen, trilocular ovary and hard ellipsoidal seeds 
characteristic of the genus contrast strongly with the same organs in the conventiona] 
Orchidaceous flower. The balance of authority is, however, undoubtedly in favour of 
the view that both Apostasia and the allied genus Neuwiedia represent aberrant, or 
rather very ancient, forms of Orchidem. According to the latter view the “ ancestral” 
characters of an orchid are in these two genera little, if at all, masked by the later 
adaptations which we are accustomed to associate with the flowers of that natural 
order. A résumé of the arguments in favour of this view will be found in Mr. Allen 
Rolfe's excellent papers in vol. xxv of the Journal of the Linnean Society, and in 
vol. іу of the Orchid Review. In the meantime the figure originally prepared for 
the volume on the Orchids of Sikkim is here given, accompanied by a description in 
which are used none of the terms peculiar to orchidologists, in the hope that thay may 
be of some use to botanists who have opportunities of examining living specimens of 
Apostasia. 
Prate 84.-А  plant,—of natural size. 1, а flower showing the  perianth, anthers, back 
of staminode, ovary and floral bract; 2, side view of a flower after removal of the sepals, petals 
and one of the anthers; A, the remaining anther, B, staminode, C, filament; 3, three-fourths view of 
both anthers '(A) as they lie closely adpressed in the flower, of the sigmoid receptacle, and of 
the apex of the ovary; 4, the flower after removal of the anthers (which are shown separately at 
the side), B, staminode, C, filaments, D, stigma, E, style,—a/? enlarged. 
Ж.‏ :کا 
PLATE 85. 
92. НітснвмА GLAUCA Wall. Trans. Med. Phys. Soc. Calcutta, vii. 215 (1834). 
Natural order Scitaminese. 
An erect herb; rhizome small, emitting slender long fibres bearing ovate-oblong tubers 
5—8 em. long ; stem 9—12 dm. high ; aves large, oblong-oblanceolate, 2—3, rarely 4, cuspid- 
ate-acute, very glaucous, 3—4 dm. long, 1--1۰5 dm. wide; spike terminal erect, 12—18 cm. 
long, 6 em. wide, cylindric oblong, bracts all floriferous, crowded, orbicular-cuneate, 3 —4 em. 
long, upper third spreading, pale-green less glaucous than the leaves; flowers white; calyz 
thin, membranous, 1 em. long, cylindric, limb 3-toothed slightly expanded, in the axil of a 
short oblong obtuse bracteole ; coroila-tube very slender, tubular, 10 cm. long, segments small 
oblong, 1:5 em. long, concave ; staminodes as long as corolla-segments; йр ovate not clawed, 
acute, obscurely emarginate ; stamen as long as the corolla-segments, filament short, anther 
