22 THE YICTORIAW NATUHALI8T 



mean to assert that they are to be found in equal abundance in all 

 districts ; far from it. We merely state that one of the circum- 

 stances which lends interest to the Orchid family, is its cosmopolitan- 

 ism. To advanced botanists of a speculative turn of mind, it is, of 

 course, a matter of great interest to account for this fact, and to 

 ascertain whether the Orchids of Ihcse varied forms in wliich we see 

 them were originally formed as and where we now see them, or 

 whether they were formed differently in the beginning and in a fcAV 

 places only, whence, in course of ages, they have spread over the 

 globe, becoming changed by force of circumstances, till that wonder- 

 ful variety we now see has been attained. I should here like to re- 

 move a very erroneous impression, viz., that our ISTative Orchid s are 

 difficult of cultivation, and that the tubers will not last, or flower 

 more than the one season. This idea, which I have frequently heaid 

 expressed, is a most mistaken one, as with a little care and attention 

 as to water, resting the tuber s, &c., they may be cultivated very 

 successfully, and flower year after year. I believe that Mr. Kulpa, 

 late of the University Gardens, was the first to exhibit these pretty 

 plants in pots. In the invaluable work of Bentham and Mueller, 

 (the Flora Australiensis), which has been my principal guide on this 

 as on other occasions, it is stated that this order is one of the most 

 ]iatural and sharply defined, as well as the most numerous amongst 

 Monocotyledons , after Gramine^ , and abundantly distributed over 

 the whole globe, save onlj^ Tn some Alpine or extreme Arctic or 

 Antarctic regions. The forty-eight Australian genera may be geograph- 

 ically divided into t wo group s, t wenty-eJMht genera coraprisiag one- 

 third of the total number of species, including the whole of the tribes 

 Malaxidete, Yandeea? , Bletidea?, Arethusea, the first group of 

 JNeottideas and the Ophrydiese belong to the tropical Asiatic flora, 

 represented in Australia by endemic or frequently identical species. 

 These are all Tropical or Eastern, some extending down to Tasmania, 

 but none found in Western Australia. Five of the genera are also 

 in ISTew Zealand, specimens of which I Avill show you as I proceed 

 with the reading of the paper. The remaining twenty genera, com- 

 prising two-third of the species, are essentially Australian , belonging 

 to three Australian groups of ]?^cottidea; . I may say that the above 

 remarks may be capable of some alteration, as the geographical 

 range of many species is extended, and Bentham again remarks, 

 " As to species I have had for examination, especially in the very 

 rich Herbarium, kindly placed at my my disposal by F. Von Mueller, 

 a far greater mass of excellent material than any of my predecessors, 

 showing for instance how great is the range of variations exhibited 

 in the precise form, markings and processes of the labellun in many 

 of the common Terrestrial Orchids . I have therefore felt obliged 

 very much to reduce the number of published species of Thelymitra , 

 Diuris , Prasophyllum , Microtis a nd Caladenia. I must, iiowever, 

 adhiit that the circumscription of several of these species is still far 



