362 THE ORCHID REVIEW. 
CATTLEYA LABIATA AND ITS HABITAT. 
WHEN the fine old Cattleya labiata was re-discovered in the province of 
Pernambuco a few years ago, and introduced in quantity, there was some 
discussion about the locality in which Swainson originally obtained it, but 
no records could be found to clear up the matter, and there was a general 
belief that it was somewhere in the neighbourhood of Rio de Janeiro, 
where Gardner afterwards obtained it. I collected all the information on 
the subject that I could find in two articles published in the Gardeners’ 
Chronicle (1891, x., pp. 366-368), and in these pages (vol. i., pp. 329-331), 
which seemed to confirm the current view, but now most fortunately I have 
discovered the missing information. In the first volume of the Edinburgh 
Philosophical Journal, published in 1819, is an article entitled, “ Sketch of 
a journey through Brazil in 1817 and 1818. By Mr. Swainson, of Liver- 
pool. Ina letter to Professor Jameson.” After pointing out his determina- 
tion, made in the autumn of 1816, to visit South America, and the object 
of this journey, which was briefly to make collections “in all branches ~ 
of natural history,” he proceeds as follows :— 
‘Instead of following the example of all my fellow-labourers, by going 
in the first instance to Rio de Janeiro, I landed, about the end of December, 
1816, at Recife, in the province of Pernambuco, 8 degrees south of the line. 
This province had never been visited by any modern naturalist, and I found 
that it possessed features, both in its geography and natural history, widely 
different from the southern provinces. After gaining general ideas of the 
climate, manners, &c., I made preparations for a journey into the interior, 
but these were suddenly rendered useless by the memorable revolt of the 
6th of March, 1817, of which I was an eye-witness. This confined my 
researches to a limited extent of country round the city; yet so many new 
and striking objects presented themselves, that I was amply employed 
during all the time that country remained in this disturbed state. . - - On 
the restoration of tranquillity, after remitting all my collections, drawings, 
&c., home to England, I quitted Pernambuco in June, 1817, and, with a 
small train, directed my course (by a circuitous route towards the interior) 
for the great river St. Francisco. The face and productions of the inland 
parts differ most essentially from those of the coast. Water in these dreary 
tracts is at all times scarce, and the excessive drought that had prevailed 
frequently exposed us to great privations, and even danger: sometimes our 
only resource was the water found in crevices and hollows of rocks, ren 
dered putrid by decomposed vegetables. At length we reached the village 
of Penedu, in the beginning of August. The botanical subjects collected 
on this journey were numerous and interesting, particularly among the 
parasitic plants and cryptogamia, which, with the birds, insects, &c., wer 
