The Guiana Orchids, 



By the Editor. 



-DIVISIONS OF THE ORDER. 



|RCHIDS may be popularly divided into two 

 great classes, first, the terrestrial division 

 which is distributed all over the world, and 

 second, the epiphytes, including those growing on rocks 

 or sand, only foand in the tropics. In Guiana we have 

 representatives of both classes, the well-known English 

 butterfly orchis being represented here by several species 

 of Habenaria. The showiest of the terrestrial species 

 however are found in the genus Pogonia (Cleistes) which 

 grow in swamps where the soil is barren pipe-clay or 

 sand. This class contains but few species native to 

 Guiana and is therefore hardly recognised, in fa6l with 

 the exception of a green and inconspicuous Habenaria, 

 common at certain seasons in one or two old trenches in 

 Georgetown, none are found within the cultivated area. 

 The epiphytes however are far more numerous, as 

 might be expe6led from the great extent of the forest 

 region. As certain animals, whose congeners in other 

 countries live on the ground, have here taken to an arbo- 

 real life, so many plants in Guiana mou-nt the trees and 

 obtain a share of the sunlight by the help of others. The 

 stages in their progress are still recognisable in several 

 genera, and are beautifully exemplified in the genus Cata- 

 setum. The oldest form is probably Catasetum discolor, 

 common all over the sand-reefs and very plentiful about 

 old charcoal pits, easily known by its pale yellow-green, 



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