MASDEVALLTA. 29 



lateral sepals obli({uely ovate, mauve-purple mottled with white ; tails 



yellow, 2 — 3 inches long ; petals linear-oblong, white ; lip broadly 



oblong, reflexed at tip, pale mauve. 



M. caudata Sliuttleworthii, Echb. in Card. Chron. V. s. 3. (1889), p. 200.* 

 M. Shuttleworthii, Rchb. in Gard. Chron. III. (1875), p. 170. Bot. Mag. t. 6372. 

 Williams' Orch. Alb. I. t. 5. Sander's Reichenhachia I. t. 13. 



var. — xa.nthocorys. 



Flowers smaller than in the varietj' Shuttleioortlui, with the seDals 



a little broader at the base, the upper sepal pale yellow with thin 



brownish red, dotted veins, the lateral sepals pale yellow sometimes 



faintly tinted and spotted with rose. 



M. caudata xanthocorys, supra. M. Shuttleworthii xanthocorys, Ifchli. in 

 Gard. Chron. XVll. (1882), p. 366. 



Masdfivallia caudata was one of the first species of the genus that 

 became known to science^ a dried specimen having been received 

 by Dr. Lindley in 1831, or even earlier. It remained unknown to 

 horticulture till it was re-discovered by Mr. Shuttleworth in 1874, 

 between Agua Larga and Fusugassinga in New Granada, while collecting 

 orchids for Mr. William Bull, of Chelsea, by whom it was intro- 

 duced. It has also been detected in the Odontoglossum crispum 

 district, near Pacho, growing on the trunks of trees at 6,500 — 

 8,000 feet elevation. The variety xanthocort/s first appeared in the 

 collection of Sir Trevor Lawrence, Bart., at Burford Lodge, near 

 Dorking, in 1882. 



M. Chestertonii. 



Leaves narrowly oblanceolate, sub-acute, 5— -7 inches long, leathery. 

 Scapes as long as the leaves, pendulous, one-flowered. Sepals ovate- 

 oblong, keeled behind, with abrupt slender tails an inch long, the blade 

 greenish yellow spotted with blackish purple; petals minute, oblong, 

 yellowish red with an apicular black tumour ; lip large, with a grooved 

 claw and transversly reniform, concave blade, pale orange-yellow with 

 numerous radiating raised reddish lines. Column terete, arched, white 

 with a few brownish red spots near the apex. 



Masdevallia Chestertonii, Rchb. in Gard. Chron. XIX. (1883), p. 532. Bot. Mac/ 

 t. 6977. 



* The typical Masdevallia caudata is but poorly represented in British herbaria, but 

 enough of it remains to remove any doubts as to the propriety of referring Reichenbach's 

 M. Shuttleworthii to that species. The late Professor himself also arrived at this conclu- 

 .sion, and gave expression to his belief in the article quoted above, but adopting the 

 unusual course of affixing a varietal name to the form which he considered to be the type. 

 There is, however, still some uncertainty whether M. caudata (Liudl ) and M. Shuttleworthii 

 (Kchb.) are simply identical, or whether the latter is a variety of the former; until this 

 uncertainty can be cleared up, it appears to us that the safest course is to leave them for 

 the present as they are described in the text. 



