a Mal 
fae} 
bears from two to four large showy and very fragrant flowers. The sepals are 
of a pale dull yellow, sometimes almost creamy white, and covered with numerous 
purple spots and blotches, many of them ring-like in character. The sepals are 
more yellow, and with fewer blotches. The lip is whitish, spotted with purple, 
the hypochil being deeply stained with dull purple in addition. 
Few Orchid flowers are more complex in structure than those of this genus, 
almost every part of which suggests a very high degree of specialisation. Their 
powerful perfume is evidently intended for the purpose of attracting insects, 
and Dr Crucer has recorded that in Trinidad the flowers of Stanhopea grandiflora 
are visited by a large bee, which graws away some of the cellular tissue of the 
labellum, and that he has seen the pollinia glued to its back. The same bee also 
visits the flowers of Catasetum macrocarpum and of a Gloxinia, both of which 
have a similar perfume to the Stanhopea. The stigma in this genus consists of 
a very narrow slit, and it is evident that the equally narrow pollinia must be 
carried there by insects specially adapted for the purpose. It would be interesting 
to learn something more about these plants and their insect visitors in a state of 
nature. R. A. ROLfe. 
eV 
