OcTOBER, 1903.| THE ORCHID REVIEW. 303 
1881, for three Brazilian species, which even yet are not known in cultiva- 
tion, the name being given in allusion to the hidden parts of the flower. 
Five others were added in 1887, four of which had previously been referred 
to Masdevallia, and since then four others have made their appearance, all 
possessing the same essential character, but differing greatly in the size of 
the flowers, and that of the lateral openings. With respect to the economy 
of fertilisation, it is unfortunate that no collector of these plants has made 
any observations on the insects which visit the flowers. This would 
probably afford a clue to the mystery. Until this is done one can only 
indulge in speculation, but judging from analogy we may infer that the 
peculiar structure of the flowers is of a protective nature, and intended to 
prevent the entrance of insects whose visits would not be of service. 
Of the twelve species now known nine are, or have been, in cultivation, 
as follows : — 
1. C. Dayanus (Rolfe in Gard. Chron., 1887, ii, pp. 692, 693, fig. 134), 
is the finest species in the genus, the flowers measuring fully 1} inches 
long, with the lateral openings nearly an inch long. It flowered in the 
collection of the late John Day, Esq., in July, 1875, and was afterwards 
described by Reichenbach under the name of Masdevallia Dayana (Gard, 
Chron., 1880, ii, p. 295). It is a native of Colombia, and Mr. Day's plant 
was purchased at Stevens’ Rooms in September, 1872, at a sale of M. 
Linden’s plants. The sepals are blotched and marbled all over with dark 
reddish-purple on a pale ground, and the very convex interior of the lateral 
sepals deep yellow, with a few minute brown dots. 
2. C. LEHMANNI (Rolfe) flowered in the Glasnevin Botanic Gardens 
in November, 1899, and was at first thought to be a small flowered form of 
the preceding. It had been sent from Popayan by Mr. F. C. Lehmann. 
Shortly afterwards it also flowered with M. E. Ortgies, at the Zurich 
Botanic Garden. From the preceding it differs in having rather smaller 
flowers, and‘the much less concave interior of the lateral sepals 
blotched with purple, like the rest of the flower. 
C. oBLONGIFOLIUS (Rolfe in Kew Bull., 1895, p. 5) flowered at 
Glasnevin in November, 1894, and is said to have been imported by 
M. Ch. Vuylsteke, of Loochristi, Ghent. It was previously known from 
dried specimens collected by Mr. J. Charlesworth, of Heaton, Bradford, in 
some Andine locality unspecified. The flowers are about 10 to 13 lines 
long, and lined with purple on a pale green ground, and the lateral openings 
about 6 to 8 lines long. 
4. C. ATROPURPURENS (Rolfe in Gard. Chron., 1887, ii, p. 693) was the 
earliest known species of the genus, having been described by Lindley as 
early as 1836 under the name of Specklinia atropurpurea, from a specimen 
which flowered in the Liverpool Botanic Garden (Bot. Reg., sub. t. 1797). 
