puted species, including C lahiata, C. Mossice^ C. pallida, C. Warszeiviczii, C. Triancei, and 

 C. Wageneri, which are found distributed over a vast range of territory extending from 

 the heart of Mexico to the capital of Brazil. The first on the list, C. lahiata, was found 

 some thirty or forty years ago — where alas I it is not to be found now — on the well- 

 known Organ Mountains in the vicinity of Eio Janeiro. The next, C. Mossice^ was 

 found on the Spanish main, and as it always bloomed in the spring or summer, and had 

 never more than two or three flowers on a scape, it was long considered distinct from 

 C. lahiatay which had invariably bloomed in November, and produced double the num- 

 ber of flowers. But in June (1865) I received luxuriant specimens of what was un- 

 doubtedly 0, labiata from the garden of the Bishop of Winchester, while plants have 

 been imported of C. Mossice producing four to six flowers on a scape, and thus some of 



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the most marked distinctions between the two supposed species have entirely disap- 

 peared. Of C. pallida a solitary plant was found by Hartweg on his w^ay to Oaxaca ; 

 this has recently flowered at Knypersley, and proves to be, as Eeichenbach suspected, 

 identical with the G. Warszewkzii delicata of Mr. Warner, which was found by the 

 traveller whose name it bears in the interior of New Granada. This again is indistin- 

 guishable, except in colour, from C. Wageneri of the same country, and which has very 

 naturally been regarded as nothing but a white variety of C. Mossice. Finally Mr. Weir, 

 the zealous collector of the Horticultural Society, mentions in one of his letters from 

 Bogota, that he met with innumerable varieties — white, lilac, and rose — of a beautiful 

 C'attleya that he gathered in that neighbourhood, and the dried specimens of which 

 exactly resemble the flowers of C, labiata, C. Triancei, and C. Warszewiczii. From a 

 collation of the facts before us, there would seem to be at least a high probability that 

 all the six so-called species above referred to are in reality varieties of a single form 

 that spreads itself— like Epidendrum ciliare and E. cochleatum— oyer the whole Orchid- 

 growing region of tropical America. Whether or no C. quadricolor itself will have to 

 be added to the list of cancelled species is a question that time only can determine. 

 Meanwhile the hybridizer plies his trade, and will speedily render "worse confounded" 



that " confusion " which is sufficiently perplexing, even as it comes to us from the hand 

 of nature. 



Descr. Pseudohulhous stems from six inches to a foot long, perfectly upright, nar- 

 rower and more compressed than in other allied species. Leaves, one on each stem, 

 narrow, strap-shaped, acute, usually about ten inches long. Peduncle issuing from a 

 large spathe, and bearing one or two flowers about four inches across, but not so much 

 spread open as is usual in this genus. Sepals pure white, oblong-lanceolate, obtuse. 

 Petals slightly spathulate, three times wider than the sepals, and, like them, of the 

 purest white. Lip undivided, cucullate, but not much opened out at the apex, which 

 is somewliat curled, and of a deep purple ; below this there is a band of white, then 

 streaks of yellow, the residue being rosy-lilac. Column entirely hidden by the lip. 



Fig. 1 . Side view of column,— magnified. 



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