132 THE ORCHID REVIEW. [Sepr.-Octsy. 1920 « 
Pleurothallide. The districts that have been worked systematically are 
few and small in area. Unfortunately no collections are available in the 
country for reference by the few people who interest themselves in this 
delightful group. A very large proportion of the plants that are sold in the 
streets by itinerant vendors perish for the lack of a little sympathetic 
consideration of their modest requirements. Stout-hearted Orchids, like 
Cattleya Skinneri, Stanhopeas, and some of the Epidendrums, will defy 
anything but anaxe; Miltonia, Odontoglossums, Warscewiczellas, ard other 
similar plants will do equally well, even ina town house, in Costa Rica, if 
not completely neglected, yet are seldom seen as thriving specimens. 
A walk in any of the districts where Orchids occur, mostly within reach 
of the town, is invariably fascinating. All the senses are delighted, for the 
air at 4,000 to 5,000 feet in the woods is fresh and invigorating. Bird life 
abounds, and in the morning many fine songsters may be _ heard. 
Mammalian life is rarely to be observed, an occasional squirre! being the 
only likely thing to be seen, unless one is away in the real bush, and even 
then casual encounters are rare. Everywhere in Costa Rica magnificent 
panoramas unfold ; every view has for background the purple blue of forest- 
covered hills, excepting in some of the central southern districts where 
large areas have been denuded of forest and are now bare or sparsely 
covered by a low straggling bush. Few true xerophytic forms occur here as 
yet, owing to the recent creation of these conditions. 
Ge dabneunes 
AN EPIPHYTIC HOST.—Dichza is a small Tropical American epiphytic 
genus closely allied to Maxillaria, but differing in its caulescent habit 
and the total absence of pseudobulbs. The leaves are short, and arranged 
in two rows, which suggested to Lindley the generic name. The species 
usually grow in humid localities, and it is curious to note that two 
Jamaican species have been observed as hosts of other epiphytes. The 
examples are preserved at Kew. In the first case, we find two small seedling 
Tillandsias growing on the lower part of the stem of Dichza muricata, the 
specimen having been gathered by Purdiein 1846. In the second, there are 
two small plants of Pleurothallis ruscifolia growing on the stem of Dichea 
Morrisii, collected by Sir Daniel Morris in 1885, and thus we have the 
unusual spectacle of one Orchid growing epiphytically upon another. All 
originated from seeds which were doubtless blown into the leaf sheaths of the 
Dichea, and there found suitable conditions for germinating, and as the 
Pleurothalli have each three stems it is evident that germination commenced 
while the Dichza leaves were still active. The occurrence is doubtless 
accidental, for epiphytic Orchids will grow wherever they find a congenial 
situation, but we do not remember to have met with another case of 
double epiphytism in the family. R.A.R. 
