328 THE ORCHID REVIEW. [NovEMBER, 1915, 
aes] NOTICE OF BOOK. Aa 
Orchidacea. Illustrations and Studies of the Family Orchidacea, issued from 
the Ames Botanical Laboratory, North Easton, Mass. By: Oakes 
Ames, Director of the Botanic Garden of Harvard. University. 
Fascicle V. Boston. The Merrymount Press, 1915. 
HE fifth volume of this interesting work is devoted to an enumeration 
of the genera and species of Philippine Orchids. The group has 
received= great attention since the American occupation, for, in addition to 
the regular explorations carried on by the Botanical Department of the 
Bureau of Science at Manila, several collectors have made a special search 
for Orchids. There are; however, still large areas botanically unknown 
from which accessions will probably be made. Among the plant families 
that constitute the vegetation-of the Philippine Islands the Orchidacez is 
said to be the richest in representatives, exceeding the Rubiacez, the next 
largest family, by several hundred species. The number of species 
enumerated is 723, distributed among ror genera, and 11g of the species 
are described as new. The Orchid of the Philippines are closely allied to 
that of Celebes, Java, and the Malay Archipelago, but the number of 
endemic species is very large, and it is estimated that approximately ninety 
percent. are endemic. The three largest genera are Bulbophyllum, with 
86 ‘species, ‘Dendrobium, with 83, and Dendrochilum, with 69, the latter 
constituting about half the known species. None of the genera are 
endemic. The arrangement of the species is alphabetical, which has the 
disadvantage of separating those that are closely allied. In the case of 
Dendrobium, however, a short key to the sections is added, with an 
enumeration of the species they contain. 
‘A good many Orchids have been erroneously recorded from the 
Philippines at different times, and allusion to these is made in the preface, 
the records arising largely from wrong identifications in an enumeration of 
Philippine Orchids by Naves, and the inclusion of a list by Boxall which 
was never intended as ‘a record of plants actually found there. Other 
€rrors arose through the absence of localities from a number of plants 
collected by Cuming, which have been wrongly attributed to the Philippines, 
and the source of these in a few cases stil] remains doubtful. It is curious 
to note that Cypripedium Fairrieanum was included by Naves as a native 
of the Philippines. 
The work includes a sketch map, showing the remarkable configuration 
of the Philippine gtoup, and its position with respect to the rest of the 
Malay Archipelago. No other figures appear in the volume. It is af 
important contribution to our knowledge of the Orchids of the Philippines- 
