Botanical Researches in Guiana. 5 



chideae already introduced are said by Mr. Colley to grow much 

 finer in the collections of this country, than he ever saw them in 

 their native habitats. During his stay in Demerara, the ther- 

 mometer ranged from 80° to 88°, and was higher in the wet 

 season than in the dry. This last circumstance ought never to be 

 lost sight of by cultivators. The terrestrial species of Orchideae 

 bear a very small proportion to the epiphytal ; for only three of 

 them were found, and all of them species previously introduced; 

 namely, Liparis elata, Cyrtopera WoodfordzV, and Cyrtopodium 

 Anderson/?'. From the bruised fleshy stems of the latter, and 

 also from those of the different species of Catasetum, a viscid 

 matter is obtained by the Indians, and used as an ingredient in 

 the " Wourali poison," which it renders so glutinous as to 

 adhere with facility to the barbs of their arrows. As any men- 

 tion of the " Wourali poison" instantly brings the illustrious 

 Waterton into recollection, it is interesting to know that Mr. 

 Colley met with an Indian who had accompanied him, and who 

 was one of the heroes who figured in the never to be forgotten 

 conflict with the cayman. 



As the collectors of Orchideae will be anxious to know how 

 many species have been obtained by Mr. Colley, and have 

 reached England in a living state, I am happy to have it in my 

 power to say, that no fewer than sixty have arrived alive, of 

 which I have no doubt at least one third are new to European 

 collections; and had it not been for a very rich importation brought 

 last autumn from Trinidad, to Kew, by Mr. Aldridge, and one 

 still richer from Surinam, brought over last winter, by Mr. 

 Lrance, two thirds, instead of one, would have been seen in this 

 country for the first time. Both the above importations coming 

 from parts which approach very near the northern and southern 

 boundaries of Mr. Colley's wanderings, contained, as might be 

 expected, many species which are also met with in Demerara 

 and Berbice. As the space of ground traversed by Mr. Colley 

 will not probably yield a circle of more than 250 miles' diameter, 

 sixty appear a large number of species to be collected in a single 

 family ; and to these must be added several sent by Mr. Hench- 

 man to Mr. Low of the Clapton Nursery, which are, I hear, dis- 

 tinct from any brought over by Mr. Colley, while many of those 

 discovered by the latter collector were not met with by the former. 

 So scarce, indeed, are some of the species, that they were only 

 found in a single spot; nay, of one or two kinds Mr. Colley only 

 obtained a single plant. Of some species, on the other hand, 

 there is a vast profusion ; Catasetum tridentatum, and Stanhopea 

 grandiflora, for instance, being met with not only in every part of 

 Demerara, but along the whole line of coast from Cumana to Rio 

 Janeiro. Not more than four or five different species of Orchideae 



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