Maspevatria Macrura. 
“La Viuda,”—*The Widow”; but, according to Wallis, this name is given to MJ. eucullata, 
a much darker flower. In 1871, JZ. macrura was so abundant in this locality, and the 
native children collected it for Roezl in such quantities, that he was obliged to abandon 
more than a thousand plants. The plant grows most commonly upon great blocks of 
' granite, scattered over the ground, and thickly covered with moss. Rain is very frequent, 
and almost every morning the fog is intensely thick, with a temperature, according to 
Roezl’s account, of five or six degrees below zero Centigrade, or nine to eleven degrees 
of frost Fahrenheit. Consul Lehmann, however, informs me that. this statement is 
erroneous, and that the lowest temperature registered in the neighbourhood of Sonson 
is only 81° or 30° Fahrenheit, or one or two degrees of frost. 
Roezl once received, among a number of plants of AZ. macrura, a specimen of gigantic 
size, the leaves measuring two feet long by four inches wide, and very thick. The only 
flower upon the plant was also of unusual dimensions, measuring nearly twelve inches 
across. It must be presumed that this measurement was from tip to tip of the extended 
tails. Owing to the faded condition of this flower, Roezl could not decide whether it 
was a distinet species or only a variety of JZ. macrura, which it appeared to resemble 
exactly in shape and colour. Even by offering a large reward to the young inhabitants 
of Sonson, he never succeeded in obtaining another specimen of it. 
Masdevallia ellipes, M. erinacea, M. molossus, M. saltatrix, M. Benedicti, M. Roezli, 
and other species, were found by Roezl growing in the neighbourhood of Sonson under 
exactly the same conditions as MZ. maecrura. 
Consul Lehmann adds the following information : 
Masdevallia macrura grows on trees, or sometimes on the ground among copse or brush- 
wood, in dense and damp woods, on the Alto de San Miguel and above Envigado, in the 
department of Antioquia, at an elevation of 2,300 to 2,600 métres (7,475 to 8,450 feet). 
It has been also observed near Sonson and other parts of Antioquia. This species 
flowers in October and November in its natural habitat. 
The annual average temperature of the region ranges between 14 and 15 degrees 
Centigrade (57° and 59° Fahrenheit). There are two rainy and two dry seasons during the 
year ; the first rainy season lasting from the end of March until the end of June; the 
second from the end of September until December. The hygrometric average is between 
69° and 70° per cent. during the dry months, and '76°—78° per cent. during the wet ones. 
F. C. Lesmann. 
Explanation of Plate, drawn from a plant at Newhbattle Abbey : 
Fig. 1, lip, petal, and column, in natural position ;—la, 
3, lip ;—8a, back of base of lip, showing nectaries, much enla 
all enlarged ;—5, apex and section of leaf, natural size. 
section of ovary ;—2, petal, inner side i 
rged ;—4, column ; 
da, apex of column ;. 
