4 
176 THE ORCHID REVIEW. 
received his plant from Burmah, and more of it may some day appear. Of 
course the original name must be restored. R, Aa Re 
— 
CATASETUM MACROCARPUM AND C. BARBATUM. 
The female flowers of Catasetum macrocarpum are so rarely seen in 
cultivation that it may be interesting to record that one has just appeared 
at Kew on a raceme with three of the other sex. The males are familiar 
to most orchidists, and the females are depicted at plate 1752 of the 
Botanical Register, but as many people may not be able to refer to that 
figure, it may be added that the lip is larger and more ovoid, the ovary 
very much stouter, and the column very short and stout, and without any 
antenne. In the present example the petals were almost suffused with 
dusky brown—as were also’ the males, which are notoriously variable in 
colour in different individuals of this species—and the anther was nearly 
half developed, showing that it was partially in a transition state. A 
peculiarity of the female flowers, which has been recorded before, is that they 
reach maturity sooner than the males, and in the present instance the 
second flower was the female, yet it opened a week in advance of those, 
above and below it. A plate has been prepared for the Botanical Magazine. 
The history of this very interesting genus and its so-called “ sporting,” and 
how the females of four different species were confused under the name of 
Monachanthus viridis, has already been detailed in the Review (supra, III.» 
Pp. 138-143). 4 : 
It is also interesting to record that the plant of Catasetum barbatum im 
the collection of John W. Arkle, Esq., of West Derby, Liverpool, mentioned 
at page 131 of the last volume, has again produced a raceme of female 
flowers, six in number. It is perfectly erect, and the flowers are entirely 
light yellowish green, except for a few minute brown spots on the margins 
of two of the flowers. The latter are only half the size of the females of C. 
macrocarpum, which were formerly confounded with it, the sepals, petals, 
and lips being seven to eight lines long, and the latter six lines broad. The 
column is shorter than broad, without any trace of either antenne, rostel 
lum, or anther. Their second appearance on this plant is very interesting, 
as they are so seldom seen in many other species. The female of this 
species is the one investigated and figured by Darwin as the female of 
Catasetum tridentatum, which I have previously shown to be erroneous: 
There are still many species of which the females are unknown, but it 1S 
to be hoped that in course of time they may be discovered. 
R, A, ROLFE: 
