HOULLETJA. 123 



name. As EouUetia Brod-lehvrstiana is the only Houlletia that has 

 been found in the neighbourhood of Eio de Janeiro, there can be 

 but little doubt that it is Brongniart's type species. 



It was next detected on the Organ Mountains by Gardner, whose 

 herbarium specimen is still preserved at Kew; after him by William 

 Lobb, who sent plants to our Exeter firm in 1842. From that time 

 to the present it has probably never been absent from British 

 collections, where its stately habit and sombre aspect afford a very 

 distinct feature when the plant is in flower. The numerous illus- 

 trations quoted above attest the high favour in which this orchid has 

 been held by horticulturists ; they also show considerable variability 

 in the colour of the flowers. 



H. chrysantha. 



Pseudo-bulbs, leaves and inflorescence as in Houlletia Brocldeliurstiana 

 except that the leaves are smaller and the scapes shorter and fewer- 

 flowered. Flowers 2| inches in diameter, light yellow spotted with 

 sanguineous red ; sepals and petals similar and sub-equal, broadly 

 oval, obtuse, more or less incurved ; hypochile of lip with two 

 dolabriform, obliquely incurved auricles each with an acute tooth at 

 the front angle ; epichile broadly cuneate at base, sub-rliomboidal, 

 rounded at the apex and with a horn-like appendage at each of the 

 lateral angles. 



Houlletia chrysantha, Andre in lllus. hcrt. XVIII. p. 138, t. 71 (1871). 

 A distinct species, especially as regards the structure of the 

 labellum, discovered by Gustav Wallis in the Colombian province of 

 Antioquia, and introduced by him to M. Linden's horticultural 

 establishment at Brussels, where it flowered for the first time in 

 Europe in 1871. Our materials for description were derived from 

 the collection of the late Mr. Neville Wyatt, at Lake House, 

 Cheltenham. 



H. odoratissima. 



Pseudo-lmlbs, leaves and iuilovescence nearly as in Houlletia BmcMe- 

 hurstiana. Flowers fragrant, nearly 3 inches in diameter, bright 

 chocolate-red except parts of the lip which are white ; sepals oval- 

 oblong, obtuse, concave, the lateral two broader than the dorsal one ; 

 petals much smaller, linear-spathulate, acute ; hypochile of lip sub- 

 quadrate with two slender horn-like appendages that are bent backwards; 



