usually have bulb-like or thickened stems and fleshy leaves for 

 the conservation of their water supply, as, from their habitat, this 

 supply must be precarious. In temperate regions nearly all of 

 the species are terrestrial and have thin leaves, the soil about 

 their roots serving to protect them from the cold of the winters in 

 such latitudes, and also giving them a more constant water sup- 

 ply than their relatives, which have taken to the trees, can 

 command : they do not therefore need psuedo-bulbs, or thick- 

 ened stems and leaves. Coming from all parts of the world as 

 they do, their blooming period varies greatly. Members of this 

 family from many lands will be found in these collections, and 

 to see the flowers of them all would require repeated visits 

 to the conservatories at different times of the year. The genus 

 Dendrobium, a large one of the Old World, usually comes into 

 bloom in February or March. Cattleya, strictly American in its 

 distribution, and largely from northern South America, varies 

 greatly in its time of blooming, depending on different species, 

 so that at almost any time during the year some member of this 

 showy genus will be found in flower. 



The palms of the central bench are most of them too small to 

 develop character as yet. One of these, however, is of especial 

 interest ; this is the double cocoanut, Lodoicea maldivica, of which 

 a figure and short account appeared in the Journal for January 

 of this year. This is also known as the coco de mer and coco 

 des Maldives. It is a native of the Seychelles Islands, and is 

 known only from these islands. It is one of the rarest of palms 

 in cultivation, only a (ew growing in the gardens of the Old World, 

 and but four or five in this country. The upper portion of the seed 

 may be seen emerging from the surface of the soil in the speci- 

 men on view, which will be found on the end of the central bench 

 near house no. I . Its double character, from which it derives the 

 name of double cocoanut, can be plainly seen. The tree in 

 its native wilds attains a height of ninety feet, bearing aloft a 



feature of the landscape. 



