9b ONCIDIUM. 



barred with light yellow ; the upper sepal elliptic-oblong, incurved, the 



lateral two free ; the petals oblong, reflexed ; lip canary-yellow, with two 



small rounded basal auricles and a large transversely oblong, eniarginate 



blade ; crest very complex, mainly a fleshy bipartite protuberance toothed 



and warted, and with two small teeth on each side. Column wings 



small, rounded. 



Oiicidium viiierinum, Liudl. Gen. et Sp. Orcli. p. 197 (1832). Id. Fol. Orch. 

 Oncid. No. 77. On. confragosum, Lindl. in Bot. Keg. 1838, misc. No. 92. 



Originally discovered by Tweedie in the early part of the present 



century^ growing upon dead trees in Uruguay, in the neighbourhood 



of Montevideo. Coining from the same country as Oncidium hifolmm, 



which it much resembles in habit, Dr. Lindley aptly compared it 



with that speciesj from which it is distinguished by its differently 



shaped pseudo-bulbs^ its longer peduncles bearing smaller flowers 



with a different lip, and especially by its crest. The curious form 



of the latter, which Lindley fancifully likened to a cluster of 



young vipers' heads as seen in profile, suggested the specific name. 



On. volvox. 



Pseudo-bulbs oval-oblong, 2—4 inches long, compressed, ribbed and 

 furrowed on the flattened sides, diphyllous. Leaves narrowly ligulate, 

 sub-acute, 8 — 12 inches long, complicate at base. Scapes very slender, 

 brownish, flexuose, 3 — 5 feet long, with a minute whitish bract at 

 each joint, branched at short intervals, the branches 2 — 3 flowered. 

 Flowers an inch in diameter ; sepals and petals similar and equal, 

 linear-oblong, obtuse, undulate, yellow much spotted with red-brown to 

 two-thirds of their length, the lateral sepals free and spreading parallel 

 with the petals; lip sub-panduriform, the basal lobes romadish oblong, 

 convex, bright yellow ; the front lobe with a short broad claw, 

 transversely oblong, emarginate, canary-yellow with a red-brown band 

 around the crest, paler beneath ; crest consisting of a central raised 

 plate bidentate at the apex, and with 5 — 7 teeth on each side in two 

 uneven rows. Column wings narrow. 



Oncidium volvox, Kchb. in Bonpl. II. p. 13 (1854). Id. Xen. Orch. I. p. 234, t. 99, 



No. 1, Lindl. Fol. Orch. Oncid. No. 156, 



Discovered by Wagener in the vicinity of Caracas, and sent by 

 him to Herr Keferstein, in whose collection at Halle, in Germany, 

 it flowered for the first time in Europe in 1854. We find no record 

 of its first introduction into British gardens. The above description 

 was taken from a plant that flowered in our houses in the autumn 

 of 1891, and about the same time we received an inflorescence from 

 Mr. F. W. Moore, of Glasnevin. The specific name refers to the 

 twining, convolvulus-like axis of the inflorescence. 



