THE ORCHID REVIEW. 277 
Plants grown on klocks are generally affixed to the block with a little 
pear or cocoanut fibre, and native moss added. There is a particular kind 
of moss which has a predilection for cocoa trees, which is our substitute for 
sphagnum, and answers very well indeed. Block treatment is preferred by 
many growers in this colony, as it does not allow moisture to sour the roots 
of the plants, and does not afford a home and breeding place for cock- 
roaches. 
Besides those terrible pests, cockroaches, there is a small plant bug, a 
species of Capsus, which plays havoc among thick-leaved Orchids, especially 
the bulbless Oncidiums, the Cattleyas, and sometimes Oncidium Papilio. 
Scale insects (Aspiodotus biformis and another star-shaped scale) trouble 
Epidendrum atropurpureum, Brassavolas, and Stanhopeas, but ordinary 
care will soon prevent these less dangerous enemies from doing much 
injury, but the cockroach is sometimes irrepressible, and in one night will 
seriously interfere with the growth of a plant just putting out fresh roots, 
by eating off every growing point. 
Each grower in this climate has to learn by experience and by frequent 
failure how to rear his pets, and therefore I have given only a general 
sketch of Orchid cultivation here. Each one has his own peculiar treat- 
ment for certain species, but nearly all cultivate the majority of these 
curious and beautiful plants in the manner described above. 
SARCANTHUS WILLIAMSONI. 
This remarkable little species was exhibited by Messrs. W. L. Lewis & 
Co., Southgate, at the R. H. S. meeting on June 11th, and received a 
Botanical Certificate, and as much uncertainty was felt about its correct 
name, the following note may be placed on record respecting it. It was 
originally described in 1865 by Reichenbach (Gard. Chron., 1865, p. 674) 
from a plant in Mr. Day’s collection, which had been sent from Assam by Mr. 
Williamson, Mr. Day’s nephew. Four years later another plant was 
described by the same author, and of precisely the same origin, under the 
name of S. arietinus (Gard. Chron. 1869, p. 416), though on comparison it 
proves to be only a form of the same species. Major-General E. 5. 
Berkeley has since found it in the Andaman Islands, and as Messrs Lewis’s 
plant was sent from the Shan States by Mr. R. Moore it evidently occurs 
over a rather wide area. The curved terete leaves are very rigid, indeed, 
Reichenbach remarked that “it might be cut out of tin, so stiffis it.” The 
small rosy-purple flowers are borne in long, graceful, somewhat-branched 
racemes, and become somewhat yellowish as they fade. It is rare in 
cultivation. Ae. le 
