168 THE ORCHID REVIEW. [JUNE, 1922. 
ARACHNANTHES. 
T the meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society, held on March 28th, 
Al a very fine variety of a remarkable Orchid-—Arachnanthe Cathcartii, 
was exhibited by Messrs. Sanders. The name Arachnanthe is highly 
applicable to this particular species, as the markings on the inner surface of 
the segments are peculiarly suggestive of a web. 
Though now seldom seen, the whole genus is well worth more attention. 
Allied to Vanda, and resembling it in habit, A. Cathcartii is distinguished 
by its tall slender stem, with alternating leaves some six to nine inches long, 
and from one to nearly two inches broad. The flowers are about three 
inches across, but larger if forced flat. The fleshy, nearly equal segments, 
have their inner surfaces thickly covered with transverse, narrow, waved, 
unequal lines and bars of brick-red, darkening with age, on a creamy-white 
ground, greenish basally. The backs of the segments are white. The lip, 
as in the whole genus, is the remarkable feature. Affixed to the extreme 
base of the column by a narrow thin connection, it oscillates at the lightest 
touch. The motion resembles that seen in the labellums of Anguloas, but 
though the restriction caused by the encircling sepals of the Anguloa is 
absent in this genus, the movement on the whole is not quite so emphatic. 
The hypochile is thickened, tumerous, and, with the side lobes, is white 
streaked and lined with crimson. The mescohile is white, but bears two thin 
crimson lines extending to the epichile which, shaped like the outline of a 
horse’s hoof, has its dull yellow edge so thickened and curved, and with its 
lateral apices so placed against the mesochile, as to give it a strong 
resemblance to the frog and surrounding hoof of a horse. The short, 
stout column, is carried at right angles to the lip. 
The distinctive features are equally present in A. Clarkel, which, 
however, usually flowers in the late autumn. The blooms in this species 
are rather smaller, borne three to five on a spike, and their colouring 1s 
more conspicuous. The petals are slightly narrower than the sepals, but 
coloured similarly, a yellow ground with transverse bars of dull chestnut, 
confluent apically. The lip has the same colouration, but in lighter tint. 
As in A. Cathcartii, it is so attached as to allow it to fall up and down by 
its own weight, according to the position of the flower. Small ear-like side 
lobes are bent forward and inward, end the mesochile carries keel-like 
ridges, which, however, do not extend to the epichile. Though the edge of 
the latter organ is not so thickened as in A. Cathcartii, it is inclined inward 
so that the resemblance to a horse’s hoof is still well marked. Column 
short, stout, and white, as are the backs of the flowers. 
A third species, A. annamensis, is probably the most striking in the 
genus. It was introduced by Messrs. Sanders, from Annam, through their 
