1220 THE ORCHID REVIEW. [JULY, 1907. 
‘again one finds the brilliant Epidendruin vitellinum, and at about the limit 
of the altitude for the Orchidacez one finds in abundance—where the 
commercial collecting vandal has not intruded—two of the most beautiful 
of the Mexican Orchids, namely Lelia albida and Cattleya citrina. 
Occasionally, but not in great abundance, one meets with a pretty Orchid 
at about 3,000 to 4,00u feet, Chysis aurea, bearing pretty yellowish waxy 
flowers, but the gem of the genus, C. bractescens, inhabits the lowlands, 
_and is one of the commonest Orchids in our coast woods. 
‘‘On what may be termed the coast zone, Orchids are not nearly so 
abundant as at higher elevations. Here we find Epidendrum Schom- 
burgkii, E. cochleatum, E. ciliare, the pretty and sweetly-scented 
E. atropurpureum, and another very interesting species having brilliant 
magenta-pink flowers, and supposed to be E. myrianthum. It grows in 
‘immense clumps, at the tops of trees, bearing perhaps forty or fifty upright 
distichous-leaved stems, crowned with a rather large terminal thyrsoid 
inflorescence. A curious feature about this Orchid is that it nearly always 
grows in company with the remarkable genus Coryanthes, of which there 
are two species here, and Mr. Harvey states that it seems impossible to 
establish these Orchids in satisfactory cultivation without the aid of ants, 
-as, wherever found growing, the roots appear in the form of a large ball, 
anywhere from one to two feet in diameter, mixed with an earthy substance 
evidently a secretion from the ants—the whole forming a nidus of 
myriads of these little fiery-mouthed tyrants, which, upon the slightest 
touch, issue from the mass of roots in thousands, so that it is extremely 
‘difficult to collect these Orchids. 
“There are two pretty Stanhopeas, one having pale yellowish white 
‘sepals and petals, faintly marked with maroon-coloured spots, and deep 
yellow at the base of the hypochil, with a suggestion of the fragrance of 
cinnamon, the other having whiter sepals and petals liberally spotted with 
-deep maroon—altogether a very lovely Orchid. Among other curious 
Orchids is a Brassia, with pale yellowish-green sepals and petals, 
-extending into long tails of three or four inches long, spotted with brown. 
‘A little lower down, in more open forest, occur immense masses of the 
‘Cow-horn Orchid, Schomburgkia tibicinis, with spikes a yard long or more, 
‘bearing at the apex six to ten good-sized pinkish-red flowers—a_ noble 
‘Orchid, but inhabited by one of the most ferocious ants known to 
naturalists, here called the Tiger Ant. On one occasion, when collecting 
near Vera Cruz, Mr. Harvey was bitten on the finger by one of these ants, 
and the pain extended up to the elbow, and lasted nearly a day. One has 
to ‘ watch out,’ therefore, when attempting to collect Schomburgkias. The 
bulbs are hollow, and shaped somewhat like a cow’s horn, except for the 
fwo or three rigid leaves at the top, quite horn-shaped, and about twelve 
