ili. 
petition ;” and this has been ina very marked degree true of the Reichenbachia, which is stamped by the thoughts and 
hints, the suggestions and the happy labour of many congenial minds. We may name for their generous scientific 
authority, and we heartily thank for their assistance, Mr. Thiselton Dyer, C.M.G., F.R.S., Director of the Royal 
Gardens, Kew, and Mr. Wm. Carruthers, F.R.S., of the Botanical Department of the British Museum ;—to these 
gentlemen our thanks are specially due for courtesies and facilities granted in connection with the institutions over 
which they preside; Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker, M.D., K.C.S.1., C.B., whose knowledge of Indian Orchids in their 
native habitats, as well as of orchidic literature, is probably unsurpassed; Dr. Maxwell T. Masters, M.D., F.R.S., 
F.L.S. (who enjoyed the advantage of being a personal friend and co-worker with the late Dr. John Lindley), and who 
since 1866 has facilitated the study of Orchids by morphological research and by printing the numerous original descrip- 
tions and wood-cut illustrations, &c., of Orchids, in the pages of the Gardeners’ Chronicle, of which he, since Lindley’s 
death, has been the editor. Dr. E. von Regel, Professor D. Oliver, F.R.S., J. G. Baker, F.R.S., W. B. Hemsley, 
F.R.S., Dr. F. Kranzlin, Wm. Robinson, Ed. Ortgies, H. Wendland, M. Godefroy-Lebeuf, Professor J. E. Planchon, 
M. Ed. André, Professor Dr. Wittmack, R. I. Lynch, A.L.S., W. Perring, and others have also afforded generous 
assistance as authorities on special points of detail and general information from time to time. 
The botanical descriptions and diagnoses in Latin; the analytical sketches, &c., appear under the scientific 
direction of R. A. Rolfe, A.L.S., assistant in the Royal Herbarium at Kew. For kindly aiding us in corrections 
of the press for the French and German cultural descriptions, &c., we owe our thanks to Professor Naudin, Professor 
Dr. Buchenau, M. Ernest Bergman, and other of our Continental friends. 
The many years’ knowledge and experience gained in importing Orchids from all parts of the world, and also a 
vast amount of correspondence with the best of my collectors, including Roezl, Wallis, Endres, Lehmann, Arnold, 
Leon Humblot, Micholitz, Ericsson, Schroder, Oversluys, Kerbach, Bartholomzeus, Freeman, Chesterton, and many 
more, is available for the purposes of this work. 
Mr. F. W. Burbidge, M.A., F.L.S., has kindly promised his literary assistance; as also have Messrs. F. W. 
Moore, James O’Brien, W. Hugh Gower, and Lewis Castle, as well as Mr. Joseph Godseff, who is the successful manager 
of our establishment at St. Albans, and who possesses an extended practical knowledge of these plants. 
In thanking all those who have so generously helped us in the past, we are determined to leave no stone unturned 
in the future to make our new series at least as trustworthy and as ornamental as the one already in the hands of 
our subscribers. A notable feature in Retchenbachia is its magnificent illustrations, which will be furnished, as 
heretofore, by Mr. Henry G. Moon. . It is no exaggeration to say that Mr. Moon’s water-colour sketches and 
drawings are by far the best Orchid portraits that have ever been reproduced by chromo-lithography. The originals 
are preserved in our archives at St. Albans, and form a series worthy of the most critical inspection. 
The great traveller, Humboldt, once said that the lifetime of an artist would be all too brief to depict a tenth of 
the Orchid beauty seen by himself in any one of the countless valleys and gorges of the Andes. This was at a time when 
Orchids were rarities in Europe. But now-a-days we may go much further, and confidently say that not only one, but a 
whole school of artists and of literary men might be fully employed at St. Albans in painting and describing the floral 
treasures we have collected, and which almost weekly reach us from all parts of the tropical world. 
In conclusion, we may be allowed a few words as to the Orchids themselves, for we are not of those who believe 
that the public enthusiasm is a whim, or a passing fancy, as some have supposed. Amateurs, as a rule, however 
humble, contrive somehow or other to become possessed of an Orchid or two, to which they devote special attention, 
and their labour of love is followed by delight when all their trouble and solicitude are literally crowned with flowers. 
We do not believe those who tell us that Orchids will go the way of all other popular flowers of old, as—say, the 
Cacti, or the Cape Heaths and Pelargonia. It is vain to tell us that Orchids will ever cease to be appreciated, their 
variety, sweetness and grace, their endurance, their exquisite colours, and finely undulated forms are so enchanting and 
valuable. No other flowers possess so many and such varied charms, and even a small collection yields something new 
and beautiful. for every day in the year. May we not assume that orchids were the last, and the most striking and 
beautiful, of the Creator's works in this domain. They could not come into being until the trees and the insects had 
long reached their full maturity. We have nothing in the world of tropical flowers to compete with the Orchids, and 
so far as that is true, it follows that they will remain in favour for all time. 
