306 THE ORCHID REVIEW 
before the previous ones have formed pseudobulbs. He therefore grows 
them in a cooler and brighter house with the Mexican Lelias, and here 
they do well. The peculiar conditions under which they grow have been 
pointed out by different observers, and a very interesting account by Mr. 
James Rodway was reproduced at page 41 of our last volume, together with 
a figure showing a plant of C. macrantha in flower in its native habitat. 
It is interesting to glance at this picture and remember that in the mass of 
fibrous roots a garrison of carnivorous ants is almost invariably found. 
There they make their nest, and in return for the shelter provided they 
defend the plant against the attacks of cockroaches and other insect 
enemies. Other plants sometimes take advantage of this protection, and 
Mr. Rodway records one clump containing two distinct species of Cory- 
anthes, a Bromelia, several Anthuriums, and a young shrub, all growing in 
a ball hardly a foot in diameter. : 
It is sometimes supposed that the presence of these ants is essential 
to the well-being of the plant, and Mr. Rodway remarks that when 
specimens are brought into gardens in the tropics, these useful tenants 
having been removed by the collectors by soaking in water, they are par- 
ticularly subject to the attacks of insects, and rarely thrive for any length of 
time. But under cultivation in European hot-houses, where the protection 
of the ants is not required, the plants will succeed under proper treatment. 
A full account of the structure and fertilisation of this remarkable genus 
may be found at page 338 of our second volume, and a figure of C. 
macrocorys, Rolfe, at page 265 of the following one, and a comparison of 
the three figures will show some of the differences which occur in the 
genus. 
The photograph here produced is an excellent one, and shows not 
only the pair of horn-like glands which secrete the liquid which falls into 
the bucket-shaped lip underneath, but each shows a glistening drop of the 
liquid just before it falls. It is a pity we cannot add the little group of 
metallic green and gold bees (Euglossa aurata), which invariably find out these 
flowers when they expand in their native habitat, and come buzzing round, 
creeping under the hood-like appendage of the flower, and then flying off 
or dropping into the pool below. At all events, we can imagine one id 
them floundering in the shallow liquid, its wings bedraggled, its Ae 
struggles to climb the slippery sides of the bucket, and finally its 
triumphal exit through the narrow opening between the lip and the column, 
with the yellow pollen masses affixed to its shoulders. It reads almost like 
romance that the insect, in spite of its troubles, should hurry off to another 
flower and repeat the process, this time leaving the pollen on the stigm® 
and thus effecting fertilisation. Yet the fact has been observed over” 
over again, and warns us not to judge the experiences of others exclusively 
