THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 51 
P. pEspectans, (Hooker.) 
Stems slender, leafless excepting a sheathing bract of about 4 
inch below the spike. Flowers narrow and dark coloured as in 
P. rufum, but longer, the spike dense, to Linch long. Labellum 
shorter than sepals. 
I believe that we are indebted to a member of this Club, Mr. T. 
McKibbin, for the opportunity of first adding this pretty little 
plant to the flora of Victoria, and as [ have mislaid the excellent 
paper read by him on the orchids of the Maryborough district, I 
am unable to give you the exact locality where he found it, but I 
believe it was somewere in the vicinity of Maryborough. I have 
not seen this sp. in a living state, although Baron von Mueller at 
once recognised the specimen as the Tasmanian P. despectans. 
For cultural purposes, it would I should say, rank with the former 
mentioned sp., and the soil recommended for these would probably 
be the same. Found in sandy soil near Hobart in Tasmania, also 
according to the census in South Australia. 
P arcaERi, (Hooker) 
Rather taller than P. jfimbriatum, a New South Wales sp., 
the leaf reduced to a sheathing bract with a short erect almost 
subulate lamina close under the inflorescence. Flowers rather 
larger than in the other sp. of the section, few together, spike rarely 
one inch long. Labellum articulate and fringed with long hairs 
This is another of Mr. McKibbin’s finds, and as in the former sp. 
does him credit as a close observer, for these slender sp. when 
growing amongst scrub or grass, requires a very sharp look-out to 
detect them. Iam indebted to Mr. McKibbin for the tuber from 
which I flowered a very fine and perfect specimen. Since writing 
these notes, I have flowered another sp. which the Baron has proved 
to be P. Archert, and, I regret to say that Mr. McKibbin lost his 
tubers, so mine I believe to be the only one left; and this is (or was 
a few months since,) in the very large and interesting collection of 
native orchids which I formed at the Botanic Gardens, and which 
was handed over by me as a donation, previous to my being trans- 
ferred to this department. ‘The cultivated specimens I found to be 
more robust than the dried specimens which I have seen from 
Tasmanla, gathered in their native haunts, but this is only to be 
expected, still it goes to show how little dependance can be placed 
on specimens which have been cultivated, and how necessary it is to 
have a national herbarium, in which every form, variation, and 
transition has a place. To grow this little orchid, I found the top 
soil from grassland to suit it best, and with a liberal supply of clean 
water when coming into flower, it will amply repay (as a botanical 
