The Guiana Orchids. 



By the Editor. 



I. — HISTORY. 



|AKEN altogether the family of Orchidaceae is 

 undoubtedly the most wonderful in the vege- 

 table kingdom, 3nd although the species found 

 in British Guiana are not popular, yet from the point of 

 view of the botanist none are more interesting. There is 

 a fascination about these plants, which carries us away in 

 the same manner as do colle6tions of pi6lures, coins and 

 postage stamps. Even the English field naturalist gloats 

 over a find of the bee or fly orchis and glories when he 

 gets an opportunity of roaming over the chalk downs in 

 search of the species peculiar to such distrifts. Beyond 

 all other plants they have a personality as it were — 

 they are hardly ever common, and even when plentiful 

 in certain places, these localities are generally hard 

 to find. Again, they are nature's own darlings, blooming 

 " far from the madding crowd," amidst scenes of the 

 wildest beauty. An English colle6lion recalls visions of 

 the expanse of Salisbury Plain with its Roman camps, 

 white horses, sparkling brooks issuing from the chalk 



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