4 OXCIDIUM. 



the species included in the other sections. Nevertheless, having regard 

 to the extremely artificial nature of Lindley's sectional arrangement of 

 the species of Oncidium — of many of which he himself complained 

 " that the badness of materials, the imperfections of drawings and descrip- 

 tions, and the misinformation so common in gardens concerning countries, 

 have rendered errors unavoidable," * a complaint that unfortunately 

 holds true to a great extent at the present day, — and then to our 

 ignorance of species that are believed to lurk in the depths of the 

 South American forests, and of which not a scrap of information is 

 yet available for scientific use, it is evident that a complete systematic 

 arrangement of the species of Oncidium at the present time is simply 

 impracticable. We may, however, remark with respect to Bentham's 

 enormous section Planifolia, that such groups as that represented by 

 On. luridum and its allies,! which are included in it, are almost as 

 distinctly sectional as the On. Ceholleta group ; and that the long, 

 linear, erect dorsal sepal and petals of On. Papilio and its allies also 

 afford a distinctive character which, although it did not escape Mr. 

 Bentham's notice, J was adopted by Dr. Lindley for his section 

 Glanduligera. 



Gengraphical Distrihution. — Owing to the vagueness of the informa- 

 tion that has been communicated respecting the habitats of most 

 of the species in cultivation and the total absence of it in the 

 case of others and of some known only as herbarium specimens, the 

 geographical distribution of Oncidium can only be stated in general 

 terms. Thus^ we know that Oncids have been gathered on the 

 South American continent from Montevideo to the Isthmus of Panama, 

 an expression that includes the whole of it as far as the 35th 

 parallel of south latitude, but from which must evidently be excluded 

 the Pampas of the Argentine Eepublic, the Campos of Brazil, the 

 Savannahs of Venezuela, the arid tract along the Pacific coast, and 

 other places of indefinable extent in which the climatic conditions 

 are unsuited to orchid life. North of the Isthmus the Oncids are 

 spread over Central America, Guatemala, and southern Mexico, 

 becoming fewer in number in proceeding northwards till they 

 disappear about the 20th parallel of north latitude. They are also 

 generally dispersed over the West Indian Islands. Over this enormous 

 area are spread an unknown number of species, most of them 



* Folia Orchidacea, Oncidium, Introductory note. 



+ The sub-section Sarcoptera of LinJley, Miltoniastrum of Reiclienbach. 



X Oncidium Papilio Lindl. et On. Kramerianwrn Echb. insignes sunt sepalo postico petal- 

 isque erectis longe linearibus. — Gen. Plant. III. p. 563. 



