147 
work at present we have not access. From a memorandum fol- 
lowing the dedicatory page of the Genera and Species above 
referred to, it is evident that the Illustrations appeared subsequent 
to that work, although probably during the same year, as Pritzel 
gives the date of the Illustrations as 1830-1838, and the low 
plate number would indicate the earlier year. In the Botanical 
Register for 1833, plate 1651, the position first taken in the 
Genera and Species is still maintained, but in text descriptive of 
plate 1851 of the same work, in the volume for 1836, he states 
that he has now seen the true O. a/tisstmuim and the plant under 
discussion here growing side by side, and that it is impossible now 
to keep them together, asserting their individual rights to specific 
rank, and describing the differences which led him to this opinion 
which was still held in 1855 at the time of his publication on the 
genus Oncidium in his Folia Orchidacea. The differences which 
were pointed out by Lindley as distinguishing O. Bazveri are the 
ones which at the present time serve to distinguish the two 
species, and they are: the larger oblong pseudo-bulbs, the panicle 
which is branched throughout, the paler color of the flowers, and 
the truncate wings of the column. We have not O. al/tissimum 
in oyr collections, but it is said to have pseudo-bulbs which are 
nearly round, an inflorescence which is branched only at the 
base, the flowers brighter in color, and the wings of the column 
rounded and somewhat crenulated. An illustration of this species 
occurs at plate 1851 of the Botanical Register, already referred to. 
The genus to which this large and free-flowering species, O. 
Bauert, belongs, is confined to America, and its members, like 
those of many other genera of the orchid family, are epiphytic, 
that is, make their home on trees, but derive no nourishment 
from their living tissues, and hence are not parasitic. The genus 
is a large one, embracing about 300 species, and is confined to 
America, ranging from Bolivia and Brazil to Mexico and the 
West Indies. 
GEORGE V. NAasH. 
