4° THE ORCHID REVIEW. 
we now pass along to the subject which more immediately concerns us, 
namely, the Orchids, references to which are both numerous and extremely 
interesting, more especially as it pictures them in all their natural surround- 
ings. For example :—‘ In the savannah rises a great eta palm, perhaps 
sixty feet high, its mass of roots standing above the water as a mound, 
from whence proceed the rough but bare stem to a height of fifty feet, 
where the great dome of fan-shaped leaves crowns its apex. . . . Below the 
crown stand the remains of a hundred clasping leaf-stalks of different ages, 
their axils filled with decaying vegetable matter, in which revel the roots ot 
that unique Orchid, Catasetum longifolium. With ribbon-like, flexible 
leaves streaming downwards and great flower-spikes slightly bent outwards 
to greet the sunlight, this plant also appears to have no rivals.” 
An account of the habitat of Oncidium altissimum is extremely graphic : 
—** One day we had an experience at a creek which set us a-thinking. We 
were collecting Orchids, and up in a tree overhanging the water was lodged 
a great clump of Oncidium altissimum, its long graceful flower-stems loaded 
with yellow butterfly-like blossoms hanging over in every direction. It was 
a magnificent plant, fully four feet thick, with panicles rising to a height 
of twelve feet. It is needless to say we wanted it for our collection, and 
that we sent one of our boatmen to fetch it down as carefully as possible. 
This, however, was easier said than done, for, first it was attached to the 
tree, then it was threaded with a number of bush-ropes, and finally more or 
less entangled in a crowd of branches. Taking a cutlass, the negro climbed 
up to its level and began to chop at the obstruction, but almost immediately 
came down with a run, rubbing his hands and face and picking a swarm of 
ants from his clothes. Looking up we could see that the attack on the 
plant had brought out its garrison, which blackened every leaf and flower- 
stem, and made the negro descend in such hot haste.” For half an hour 
the spoilers were kept at bay before the plant was thrown into the stream, 
after which came the work of getting rid of the virulent insects by pushing 
the mass under water with a long bamboo, when myriads of ants, several 
cockroaches, and a large centipede were dislodged and carried in black 
patches down the stream. On the fork of a tree the Orchid had found a 
congenial habitat, where it grew and flourished for years, developing a great 
mass of roots to be occupied by the immense horde of ants, who in return 
for house accommodation, undertook to keep off the enemies of the Orchid, 
of which the cockroach was one of the most inveterate. Some of the cock- 
roaches were present, but had not yet been captured, and it is not to be 
supposed that even this omnivorous insect will be deterred from attempting 
to get a delicious meal simply because its enemies are to the fore. Is not 
this one of the reasons why the ants are so ready to take up their abode 
among the Orchid roots? Where its food was to be found the cockroach 
would certainly come, and the ant as certainly find its prey. 
