50 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 
peculiarities of the Monotremata or any other animals, be they duck- 
billed or otherwise. 
To return to the orchid, I should say that the same culture as 
that recommended for the former sp. would suffice. P. alpinum, 
P. afinis, and P. rostratum, are synonyms of this sp. Found 
also in Queensland, New South Wales, Tasmania, and iu South 
Australia. Mr. Bentham adds some copious notes to his description 
of this sp., which may be found in vol. VI., page 340. 
I may mention before closing this description, that this sp. was 
formerly known by the name of P. alpinum, and seems to be equally 
at home whether growing in moist flats, or on the tops of our 
highest mountains. 
Section 3. GENOPLESIUM. 
Labellum obtuse, or contracted into a claw at the base, articulate 
on a horizontal claw-like basal projection of the column. ‘Stem 
slender, the leaf almost or quite reduced to a sheathing bract. 
Flowers very small. 
P. xigricans, (R. Brown) 
Stem very slender, under 6 inches high, with a single leaf $ to ? 
inches long. Flowers very small, in a spike 4 to 1 inch, usually 
dense and drying of a dark purple or almost black. Sepals broader 
than in the following sp. 
This little orchid I have never found, so that I can give you no further 
account of it, than the abbreviated description taken from the 
“Flora.” I may however, say that I take it to approach P. 
despectans, or some other of the smaller sp., and if this be the case, 
it would be of little value for cultural purposes, excepting of course 
to complete a collection. I may also mention that Baron von 
Mueller in his Census, gives this sp. as being also from Victoria, but 
I am not aware from what part. Found in New South Wales, 
Tasmania, and in South Australia. 
P. rurum, (R. Brown.) 
Stem slender, 6 to 8 inches high, the leaf reduced to a sheathing 
bract near the spike, 3 to 2 inches long. Flowers, the smallest in 
the genus in a spike of 4 to2 inches. Sepals tipped with a small 
point but (always) without the gland of P. nigricans. This is 
another sp. which I have as yet not myself found, and although the 
characters given seem very’clear, it appears that it has also varieties, 
I will thus simply give you its synonymous and geographical range. 
Believing it to be (as regards culture) identical with the former 
sp. Found in Queensland, New South Wales, and Tasmania, and 
at Wilson’s Promontory, Victoria, by F. Mueller. P. nudum is 
said to be identical with this sp. 
