NovEMBER, 1915.] THE ORCHID REVIEW. 327 
also have it through the kindness of A Veitch from Mr. Thomas Lobb,. 
who met with it in the same region.” It was described as a terrestrial 
plant with the ovate green bulb of Ania latifolia, the plated leaves of a 
Bletia, and the flowers inverted, and borne ona long loose lateral downy 
panicle, two feet or more long, and yellowish streaked with brown. 
‘ Griffith was quite puzzled with the plant, which he described and 
figured in 1848 under the single word “ Erioidea,” to indicate a certain 
resemblance to Eria in floral structure. Reichenbach carried the idea 
further by calling it Eria barbata, under which name it has long been 
known, though Sir Joseph Hooker expressed a doubt as to its belonging to- 
Eria, while more recently Kranzlin has returned it to Tainia, where it is 
equally out of place. The fact is, it is quite distinct, and we have long 
believed that the best way to deal with it is to make a new genus for its 
reception. For this the name Eriodes has been selected, as indicating as. 
closely as possible Griffith’s idea of its affinity. 
In habit Eriodes closely resembles Spathoglottis, but is characterized by 
itsinverted flowers, its narrow, strongly reflexed sepals and petals, its narrow, 
strongly recurved mobile lip, its sharply angled column, and in its having the 
eight pollinia attached in two fours on a broad transverse gland. One very 
curious character of the plant has been observed from the outset, namely, an 
irregular line of numerous flat brown hairs on one side of the pedicels. 
They were thus described by Lindley: ‘‘ On the flower stalks, mixed with 
soft down, are numerous very remarkable flat brown bodies, which Griffith 
calls ‘ ramenta’ ;: they are really simple cells, filled with brown chromule 
even when fresh, and with the form of a common paper knife blade; some- 
where near the middle is a distinct cytoblast with fine grumous matter 
surrounding it.” And Reichenbach states that they show beautiful areol 
under a high magnifying power. Their position is curious. They occur 
in a line along the upper side of the untwisted pedicel, and extend from the 
base to beyond the middle, stopping when the ovary proper is reached. 
Their function is unknown. 
Besides the original habitat on the Khasia Hills, the species was 
collected at Shillong, by Mr. C. B. Clark, at 5000 feet altitude, while the 
Source of a garden plant is said to have been Upper Burma. We have seen 
it from several collections. The following are references to descriptions and 
figures :— 
ERIopDEs BARBATA, Rolfe, n. gen. 
Tainia barbata, Lindl., in Gard. Chron., 1857, P 
Eria barbata, Rchb. f., in Walp. Amn., vi. p- 270 5 "Suan Refug. Bot., 
t. 114; Hook. f. Fl. Ind., V. p- 803. 
Eriodea, Griff. [tin. Notes, p. 82; Ic. Pl. Asiat. Kar., t. 302. age 
