OcTOBER, 1423.| THE ORCHID REVIEW. 293 
BULBOPHYLLUM CYLINDRACEUM. 
HIS curious species, somewhat resembling the habit of a large 
Masdevallia as regards its growth, produces a spike 12-18 inches 
high, the apex nodding, and densely crowded with blackish-purple flowers, 
in some they are almost black. In the original description (Gen. & Spec. 
Orch., 53) Lindley remarked :—‘“ I know this very remarkable plant only 
from an excellent drawing in Dr. Wallich’s possession. It is not more 
remarkable for its very dense imbricated flowers, which have a great spathe- 
like bractea at the base of their spike, than for the want of the spurious 
bulbs, which are, with this single exception, characteristic of the genus.” 
According to Sir Joseph Hooker, there is considerable variation in 
specimens from different localities. He states (Fl. Brit. Ind., 765) :— 
“There are two forms found in both Sikkim and the Khasia Hills. B. 
cylindraceum proper, upper sheath of scape embracing the base of the 
Spike, and var. khasianum, upper sheath smaller distant from the spike.’ He 
also states that ‘‘ Wallich’s figure is probably grossly exaggerated (made in 
Nepal, there are no specimens in his herbarium).’ 
B. cylindraceum forms the subject of a coloured plate in King & 
Pantling’s Orchid of the Sikkim Himalaya (t. 96). They describe it as 
growing at elevations of 6,000 to 7,000 feet, and in flower from October to 
January. The column is of a paler purple than the rest of the flower, and 
the floral bract is of the same tint. The colour of other parts of the flower 
makes the nearest approach to black. They also state that the Sikkim 
plant rarely has the sheath above described by Hooker. 
MEGACLINIUM MINUTUM.—This is probably the smallest known species 
of the genus, being only about two inches high. The curiously flattened 
rachis is purple-brown, and the flowers dull maroon and greenish-yellow. 
CALADENIA DIMORPHA.—This Australian Orchid produces two marked 
varieties, the one pure white, with the exception of the calli on the labellum 
(which are straw yellow), the column and the point of the labellum; the 
other white, with the calli and tips of the fimbriz of the labellum, and point 
of labellum, purple. This is the only species of Orchid I have known, when 
placed in a room, to be fertilized by insects. A house-fly lighting on the 
lip was carried by its spring against the column, and becoming entangled in 
the gluten of the stigma and struggling to escape, removed the pollen in its 
masses from the anther and smeared them on the stigma. Such rather 
large insects are, I believe, the principal agents of fertilisation in the genus ; 
the species of which, without some such agency, never produce seed.— 
R. D. FirzcEracp, in Australian Orchids. 
