Tar Genus Masprevariia; rts History, GEroGRAPHICAL DistRIBUTION, ETC. 
group in which he thought it should be included, and never attempted to arrange the 
entire series of groups in any § stematic order. This can, perhaps, hardly be done 
until a wider knowledge of the Genus is attained, and I have, therefore, for convenience, 
numbered the Sections and placed them and the species contained in them in alpha- 
hetical order. The index refers to the number and name of the Section in which each 
species will be found. In the case of those plants of which it is impossible, from the 
original description, to ascertain the affinities, a list is given on a separate page, and 
they are referred to in the index under “Section indeterminate.” The names of those 
species now excluded from the Genus Masdevallia are also mentioned on a separate 
page, and are, in the index, followed by the name of the Genus in which they have been 
placed. Much doubt and uncertainty about these and other species will be set at rest 
only when Professor Reichenbach’s vast collections of dried plants, drawings and notes, 
come to light in the Vienna Museum, where, according to the extraordinary conditions 
of his will, they must remain untouched for 25 years after the date of his death, which 
took place in 1889. Until this period has elapsed, therefore, all arrangements of 
Sections, and determinations of species or varieties, must be made with reserve and 
regarded as temporary and uncertain. 
Many interesting species will be added to the Genus when Consul Lehmann 
publishes his large series of drawings, made in the natural habitat of the plants. It was 
originally proposed that more of his drawings should be included in the present work, 
but many of those lent to me by him for that purpose, although in themselves 
excellent, were sent without dissections, names, notes, or descriptions, and were, there- 
fore, useless for publication. It is only possible to indicate upon the map a very few 
of the places mentioned in his notes, many of them being small remote towns and villages, 
or minor mountain-peaks and valleys in the vast Cordilleras of the Andes. 
To the numerous friends whose assistance has enabled me to accomplish this work, I 
must again express sincere and grateful thanks, and in addition to those mentioned in 
the preface I wish to thank the members of the Staff of the Royal Herbarium at Kew, 
who have given me their help, as well as Mr. F. Sander and Mr. R. J. Measures, who 
haye supplied me with information and specimens. For the loan of an excellent collec- 
tion of dried plants, as well as for living specimens, I am indebted to Monsieur Eugéne 
Autran, of the Boissier Herbarium at Chambésy, Geneva. In conclusion, | may remark 
that in carrying out the work of this book, I have spared no pains, and have done my 
best in every way to obtain accurate information and drawings, although, being neither 
a trained artist nor botanist, I have felt myself hardly qualified for the undertaking. 
BELTON, 
Auveust, 1896. 
