252 THE ORCHID REVIEW. [AuGusT, 1908. 
of the lip. Lindley described the flowers as rich crimson, as large as in E, 
nutans (Fol. Orch., Epidendr. p. 63). Since that time the species has been 
practically lost sight of, though a plant flowered from some unknown 
source at Kew in May, 188g, but its identity was not made out at the 
time. Lindley placed the species in his group Amphiglottium holochila, 
next to E. Skinneri, a handsome Guatemalan species which was figured in 
the Botanical Magazine many years ago (t. 3951), but which seems to have 
been quite lost sight of during recent years.—R.A.R. 
CATASETUM SPINOSUM. 
AN interesting Catasetum has reappeared in cultivation, in the Kew collec- 
tion, a plant obtained some time ago at Messrs. Protheroe & Morris’s Sale 
Rooms, as ‘‘Catasetum sp. from Brazil’? proving on flowering to be the 
long-lost C. spinosum, Lindl. (Bot. Reg., 1840, Misc. p. 65). It originally 
flowered in the same collection in February, 1840, and was described and 
figured by Sir William Hooker under the name of Myanthus spinosus (Bot. 
Mag., t. 3202), and was said to be one of the very few Orchidee which 
rewarded Mr. Gardner’s researches in the Province of Ceara, in the interior 
of Brazil. Gardner wrote in his journal a very interesting and instructive 
note on the subject (Aun. Nat. Hist., iii. p. 334). After remarking that 
Cactez were rare in the province, and that he had only met with four 
species, he proceeds to say, ‘‘ Orchidez are still more rare.. Two kinds 
only can I find to send home alive, but of both you will receive an abundant 
supply ; they are the Oncidium already mentioned and the epiphyte that 
grows on the Catole. The latter of these I have not seen in flower, it being 
in a dormant leafless state at this season. The general appearance is that 
of a Catasetum, and I have no doubt it will prove to be new. The place of 
the tropical Orchidee of South Brazil is in these regions occupied by 
Loranthee, which, in the shape of Viscum, occupy every tree, and being 
evergreen, give a remarkable appearance to the deciduous forest.” At 
that time Myanthus was thought to be a good genus, but shortly afterwards 
Lindley reduced the plant to Catasetum, as above mentioned. He, how- 
ever, could not have understood the species very well, for immediately 
afterwards he described and figured a similar plant under the name of C. 
lanciferum (Bot. Reg., 1841, t.'5, fig. 5). This he had received from the 
Hon. and Rev. W. Herbert. The author remarked: “It was collected by 
Dr. Gardner in Brazil, and is perhaps a variety of C. barbatum, but it is 
very different initslip.” It is simply a form of the preceding, and I have 
little doubt that the plant was one of the ‘“ abundant supply ” just 
mentioned. It is curious that the two have not previously been connected 
together. Lindley himself afterwards considered C. spinosum to be a form 
of C. barbatum, and I had also regarded it as a variety, but the fact is that 
