118 G. King & R. Pantling — New Orchids from tiikkim. No. 2, 



A second series of Neto Orchids from Sikkim. — By G. King & R. Pantling. 



[Reed. 28th April, Read 6th May.] 



In the third number of the Society's Journal for last year we printed 

 descriptions of thirty-three new species of orchids recently discovered 

 in Sikkim. Subsequent study of these, and a more careful comparison 

 of them with the forms most closely allied to them, have since led us 

 to believe that two of them cannot be upheld as good species. These 

 two are Bulbophyllum cylindricum, which we now believe to be B. l>rpt- 

 anthum, Hook. fil. ; and Cirrhopetalum Dyerianum, which should, as we 

 now think, be reduced to B. parvulum, Hook. fil. This evening we 

 submit to the Society descriptions of a further instalment of novelties 

 amounting to thirty. A large proportion of these have been collected 

 in the Lachoong and Lachen valleys, at elevations varying from 7,000 

 to 12,000 feet. Amongst these Alpine forms there are no less than 

 three new species of Bister a — a genus of which only four species were 

 previously known to inhabit British India. There is also a new species 

 of Corysanthes — a genus not hitherto found farther north than the 

 mountains of the province of Perak in the Malay Peninsula ; and a new 

 genus which forms a connecting link between Tipularia and Corallo- 

 rhiza, for which we have proposed the name Bidiceia. 



Epidendrese. 



Microstylis saprophyta, n. spec. Terrestrial, leafless, saprophytic ; 

 the whole plant 3 to 6 in. high, glabrous. Stem bulbous at the base, 

 with a few short crowded sheaths just above the bulb and 2 or 3 

 scattered lanceolate bracts "35 in. long. Raceme 1 to 2 in. long, lax ; 

 floral bract lanceolate, equalling or exceeding the sub-sessile ovary. 

 Flowers '12 in. long, inverted. Sepals ovate, blunt. Petals linear ; the 

 dorsal sepal reflexed and adpressed to the ovary, the lateral sepals and 

 the petals revolute. Lip rotund-re niform, entire, with a semi-lunar con- 

 vex fold in the middle of the upper surface ; the basal auricles erect, 

 rather short and broad, sub-acute. 



Sikkim Himalaya, at Choongthang, elevation 6,000 feet. R. 

 Pantling, No. 394. 



The flowers, which are greenish, open about July. 



A singular plant, quite unlike any other species in the genus. The 

 bulb at the base of the stem is about '35 in. in diameter. 



DIDICIEA, King and Prain. 



( Epidendrearum novum genus). 

 Sepals free, spreading, subequal, narrow. Petals like the sepals. 



