The Guiana Orchids. 17 



well as aflualiy, and are extremely well fitted for their 

 position. If we were asked what quality fits a man best 

 for the struggle which is continually going on in the 

 world we should mention endurance. This is highly 

 developed in the orchid family, and one of the most 

 general chara6lers of the plant is its storehouse against, 

 not a rainy day, but a drought. Endurance is often the 

 result of thrift ; without its store of honey the bee could 

 not live during the winter, and even hibernating animals 

 live on the fat they accumulate beforehand. The great 

 nations of Europe have been mainly developed by 

 the practice of thrift ; they were able to endure because 

 they stored corn against the winter. If they had simply 

 lived from hand to mouth as the tropical savage has been 

 doing for ages, no doubt a great deal of their capacity 

 would be wanting. Orchids have their times of trouble as 

 we have, and have learnt to provide against them in the 

 best possible way. But even here their versatility is 

 most conspicuous ; the same end is produced by different 

 means. On the chalk down and mountain a store of 

 food is laid up in the tubers or thick fleshy roots ; on the 

 sand-reef monster green pseudo-bulbs, sometimes a yard 

 long, make ample provision ; and on rocks or trees 

 various forms and sizes of pseudo-bulbs and thick leaves 

 answer the same purpose. Where the pseudo-bulbs are 

 large the leaves are thin, and vice versa^ while with the 

 thickest leaves these are entirely wanting. The vanilla 

 has thick leaves and fleshy stems and when pseudo-bulb or 

 stem are both wanting, the store-houses are the thick aerial 

 roots. Only a few species, living in places that are 

 always damp, make no special provision against drought, 

 and these are but exceptions that prove the rule. 



C 



