[ 72] 



vigorously healthy, free from thrips and all other insect pests, which so frequently render them rusty and unsightly in a 

 higher temperature. 



M. Chimera was originally discovered by Roezl in 1871 while travelling for us in New Grenada, near Choco, on 

 the Western Cordilleras ; but for a period of ten years or so after he made this remarkable discovery the imported plants 

 all arrived dead. We, however, succeeded at last in obtaining one good consignment from Roezl's nephew, Frank 

 Klaboch, these having been packed just before the young growth started. They withstood the great heat of the Isthmus 

 of Panama, along which they had to pass by rail. Klaboch's lucky consignment contained not only typical M. Chimaera, 

 but its varieties stupenda, gigantea, Roezlii, Winniana, Shieldsiana, and others. 



M. bella and M. Backhousiana were found by Butler, and M. Wallisii was discovered by the collector whose 

 name it bears. It is a very curious fact that M. bella and M. Backhousiana, with somewhat rounded sepaline divisions, 

 come from near Frontino, but the kinds having more elongated segments come from Buenaventura. 



M. Chimera must not be confounded with M. nycterina, a species that usurped the name on its first introduction, 

 and before the true M. Chimaera appeared on the scene. 



In habitat M. Chimaera is restricted to two small areas on the Western Cordilleras, and its polymorphic character 

 was first observed by the late Gustave Wallis {v. Gard. Chron., 1875, vol. IV., p. 258). The plant grows in the 

 neighbourhood of Frontino, near to Antioquia, and extends a few miles to the southward of that town. It grows princi- 

 pally in the forked branches of trees where there is a good deal of vegetative humus or debris, often in dense shade, and 

 much moisture. Its vertical range varies from 4,500 to 6,500 feet, and where healthiest and most plentiful the air is at, 

 or nearly at, saturation point for nine months out of the twelve. At the higher elevations the plants have smaller and 

 narrower leaves, but flower more freely. The specific name Chimaera was a mythical fire-breathing monster, the offspring 

 of Typhon and Echidus. The varieties of the species are in popular parlance to be spoken of as " Bat Orchids," which 

 little animals they much resemble as fluttering in the wind. 



