140 CYCNOCHES. 



closely resemble Morinodes and Catasotum, and differ so little inter se 

 that the description of them nnder C. cldorochilon, the best known 

 species, will serve for all. Like ]\Iormodes, too, the Cycnoches are 

 all natives of tropical America, Init evidently more dispersed. Un- 

 fortunately scarcely anything has been communicated respecting their 

 station and environment in their native countries, but experience has 

 shown that the cultural treatment best suited for them is similar to 

 that formulated under ]\Iorniodes. 



Cycnoches aureum. 



Male Jfowers: Racemes pendulous, rather dense, 9 — 12 flowered. 

 Flowers 2 — 3 inches in diameter, of a uniform clear yellow ; sepals and 

 petals similar and sub-equal, broadly lanceolate, acute ; the sepals 

 spreading, the petals much reflexed beyond the middle ; lip clawed with 

 an ovate, acute blade, "the edge of which is broken up into short 

 curved processes forked at the point," the two lowermost larger than 

 the others and turned backwards. Column slender with the characteristic 

 curve of the genus. 



Cycnoches aureum, Liudl. in Paxt. Fl. Gard. III. t. 75 (1853). 



Introduced in 1852 from Central America by Mr. G. Ure Skinner, 

 but long since lost to cultivation. It is_, without doubt, a very 

 handsome species well worth re-introduction. 



O. chlorochilon. 



Stems cylindric, tapering upwards, 4 — 7 or more inches long, sheathed 



by the persistent bases of the fallen leaves. Leaves 5 — 8 to each 



stem, lanceolate, aciite, plaited, strongly nerved beneath. Scapes stoutish, 



1 — 3 or more floAvered. Flowers inverted, variable in size, the largest 



6 inches across vertically ; sepals and petals yellowish green, the dorsal 



sepal lanceolate-oblong, acute, curved, the lateral two much broader ; 



the petals similar to the dorsal sepal and sub-falcate ; lip obovate or 



elliptic oblong, acute, with a ventricose disk below which is a dark 



green depression, and near the base a triangular, erect callus. Column 



curved like a swan's neck in both sexes ; in the male flower slender, 



dilated below the anther ; in the female flower thicker and shorter 



with a triangular fleshy wing on each side of the stigma. 



Cycnoches chlorochilon, Klotzsch in Allgem. Gartenz. 1833, p. 225. Lindl. Sert. 

 Orch. t. 16. Rchb. in Walp. Ann. VI. p. 560. Williams' Orch. Alb. VI. t. 263. 

 Gard. Chron. III. s. 3. (1888), p. 145, icon, xyh Illus. hort. XXXV. t. 65. 

 Sander's Reichenhachia, I. s. 3. t. 39. Rolfe in Gard. Chron. X. s. 3 (1891), 

 pp. 69 and 394. 



Originally discovered by Moritz, a German naturalist settled in 



Venezuela, who sent specimens from Maracaybo to the Berlin 



Museum in 1836, from v^hich the species was described two years 



later by Professor Klotzsch in Otto and Dietrich's Allgemeine Gurten- 



