144 THE ORCHID. REVIEW. (SEpt.-Oct., 1920. 
ACK of space for staging the Orchid exhibits at the R.H.S. Spring 
Show has led to a suggestion that in future a commodious tent 
should be set apart for the purpose, so as to secure a more effective display. 
The desideratum is a liberal extent of frontage, so as to allow of an effective 
arrangement without overcrowding the plants. Great depth from front to 
back is not required, as a depth of over seven feet renders effective staging 
difficult, as well as proper attention tothe plants. The provision cf such a 
tent might necessitate some arrangement of the groups, but with the 
addition of suitable foliage plants as’a’ background, and perhaps of other 
ways of utilising Orchids for decorative purposes, it is believed that a novel 
and very attractive feature might be secured. Something of the kind is 
much to be desired. 
AN ORCHID TENT AT CHELSEA. 
MASDEVALLIA ASTUTA, Rchb. f.—The discovery of an original painting 
of this Costa Rican Masdevallia recallsan old question as to its distinct- 
ness, and confirms the view we then took as to its being simply a form of 
the earlier M. erythrochete, Rchb. f.. As there is no published figure, it 
may be interesting to give the facts. It belongs to the section Saccolabiate, 
and was described in 1886 from materials sent to Reichenbach by Messrs. 
Shuttleworth, Carder & Co. In August of that: year the firm sent living 
flowers and a leaf to Mr. Day, who made a painting (Day Orch. Draw., li. 
t. 51), and sent on a flower to Reichenbach, who then described it, and in 
a letter to Mr. Day remarked that he was afraid Mr. Shuttleworth had 
been offended by his not having at once described some wretched materials 
of Carder’s. He compared it with M. Gaskelliana; Rchb. f., described 
from the Gaskell collection in 1883, and of which, the country was not 
stated. Of this there is a specimen at Kew from the original plant, as well 
as others of M. astuta received from Messrs. Shuttleworth, Carder & Co., 
and from Glasnevin, in 1889, and we are unable to distinguish either from 
M. erythrochete, Rchb. f. The latter was described in 1882, from 
materials sent by Mr. F. Sander, said to have been imported from Central 
America. Whether M. erythrochete occurs outside Costa Rica is not 
quite certain. Consul Lehmann is ‘said to have collected it on the 
Candelaria Mountains there, and also very closely allied specimens in 
Antioquia, but what the latter really are remains uncertain, for they are 
not represented in the Lehmann Herbarium at Kew. The species is 
certainly polymorphic, but how far it extends in various forms to the 
Cordillera of South America remains to be proved.—R.A.R 
