6 THE ORCHID REVIEW. (JANUARY, 19140” 
about thirty different species—some, minute plants scarcely larger than mosses, and 
one large semi-terrestrial species, which grew in clumps, eight or ten. feet high. 
There were but few in flower, and most of them were very small, though pretty. One 
day, however, I was much delighted to come suddenly upon a magnificent flower :. 
growing out of a rotten stem of a tree, just level with my eye, was a bunch of five or 
six blossoms, which were three inches in diameter, nearly round, and varying from a 
pale delicate straw-colour to a rich deep yellow on the basal portion of the labellum.. 
How exquisitely beautiful did it appear in that wild, sandy, barren spot. A day or 
two afterwards I found another handsome species, the flowers of which, unlike most. 
of the family, were of very short duration, opening in the morning and lasting but a 
single day- The sight of these determined me to try and send some to England, as- 
from such a distant and unexplored locality there would probably be many new 
species. I accordingly began bringing a few home every day, and packing them in 
empty farinha-baskets, placing them under a rough stage, with some plantain-leaves 
to defend them from the heat of the sun, till we should be ready to embark. I was: 
rather doubtful of the result, as they could not arrive in England before the winter, 
which -night be injurious ; but on my next voyage I looked forward to bringing a 
large collection of these beautiful and interesting plants, as they would then arrive in: 
a good season of the year. 
The subsequent history of these plants was tragic, for the ship by which 
Wallace returned was burned at sea, with his entire natural history 
collections, and the author reached England after spending several days in 
an open boat, which narrowly escaped being swamped during a storm. 
The ‘‘next voyage” was not to South America, but to the Malay 
Archipelago, from 1854 to 1862, and his eight years’ travels there are 
described in his Malay Archipelago, a work in two volumes published in 
1869. Here again we find a few references to Orchids. When staying in 
Sarawak he visited a level, forest-covered swamp, and remarks :— 
During my first walk . . I - . noticed some very handsome Orchids 
in flower, of the genus ilegvne, a group which I afterwards found very abundant, 
and characteristic of the district. 
“In speaking of Borneo generally he observes :— 
| The interesting group of Orchids is very span dant but, as is generally the case,. 
nine-tenths of the species have small and inconspicuous flowers. Among the 
exceptions are the fine Ccelogynes, whose large clusters of yellow flowers ornament 
the gloomiest forests, and that most extraordinary plant, Vanda Lowii, which last is 
particularly abundant near some hot springs at the foot of the Peninjauh Mountain. 
It grows on the lower branches of trees, and its strange pendant flower-spikes often 
hang down, so as to almost touch the ground. These are generally six or eight feet 
long, bearing large and handsome flowers three inches across, and varying in colour 
from orange to red, with deep purple-red spots. I measured one spike, which 
reached the extraordinary length of nine feet eight inches, and bore thirty-six flowers 
spirally arranged upon a slender thread-like stalk. Specimens grown in our English 
hot-house have produced flower-spikes of equal length, and with a much larger 
number of blossoms. 
Wallace’s writings include éctersinitg volumes on Tropical Nature and 
