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broad at the base. The petals, erect, excepting the tip which is spreading or 
reflexed, are somewhat fleshy, ovate-oblong, very acute, 1 inch long, */, of an 
inch broad, of a bright orange-yellow at their upper half, passing to very pale 
yellow below, with the same streaks as the sepals on the lower two thirds, and 
the same spots, especially on the margin, at the upper half. The lip, very fleshy 
and rigid, is ovate in its whole, very concave, nearly conduplicate, strongly 
narrowed, reflexed and rather distorted at the apex, very hairy at the upper 
margins, with the disk very shortly hairy at its upper part, 1 inch long; the 
median callus, extending from the base to somewhat above the middle, is broad, 
very tomentose, and terminates above in a truncate enlargement; it is wholly 
bright orange-yellow, with bright purple dots, very minute on the inferior part of 
the lateral lobes, larger at their apex and on the margin of the front lobe. 
The column, creamy white, is very fleshy, somewhat arched in front, obscurely 
angular at the back, with the edges of the clinandrium very minutely papillose ; 
it is scarcely */, of an inch long, but its foot is about twice as long. 
The closest allied species seems to be the M. fucata Reus. r., probably a 
Brazilian species, which has a very different and far less rich colouring. Besides 
this, the latter has ovate-oblong pseudobulbs, several times longer; its leaves are 
lanceolate; the dorsal sepal is strongly keeled; the lateral sepals are twice as 
large, broadly ovate, obtuse; the petals are far smaller, oblong and far less 
acute ; the lip differs also by several points. 
It may be well to mention, in course, the extreme confusion which predo- 
minates in the genus Mavillaria ; its species, which in number exceed notably one 
hundred, have been nearly all described separately and without any systematical 
coordination; it is nearly impossible therefore to use these descriptions for a 
scientific determination of the plants included. An accurate revision of the genus 
would be a very useful work. 
A. Coaniaux. 
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