50 THE ORCHIDS OF NEW ENGLAND. 
formed by the decaying leaves gives birth to this bright hued 
Orchid. 
Even when her sanctuary is discovered, Calypso does not al- 
ways reveal herself. The ground and the fallen tree-trunks aie 
thickly padded with moss and embroidered with trailing vines 
of Snowberry and Linnea; Painted Trillums dot with their 
white stars the shadows lying under the tangled, fragrant 
branches; the silence of the forest, disturbed only by the chirr 
of a squirrel or the sudden jubilance of the oven-bird, envel- 
ops you and seems the appropriate accompaniment of such an 
expedition. You follow, perhaps, a winding path made by 
the wild animals among the underbrush; moving slowly, or 
you easily overlook the dainty blossom, nestling in some soit, 
damp nook, and poised lightly on its stem as 1f ready to flut- 
ter away between your covetous fingers; and when in the 
presence of the goddess you are compelled to stoop, whatevei 
title of dignity you may wear. Come aweek later,and she has 
vanished: the plantain-like leaf has shrivelled also, and it 
will be three months before another arises to tell wheie the 
tiny white bulb 1s secreted. Take up the bulb and wonde1, as 
Iam sure you will, how it survives the frosts and snows, it 
slips so readily out of its loose bed You will, doubtless, feel 
repaid for a day’s journey by the sight of a single specimen, 
and will not wonder that the pretty recluse has so wide a 
reputation. The most favored person I have yet heaid of is 
Professor Scribner, of Girard College, who info1ms me that once 
in Maine, he came ona place, “not a foot square, containing 
over fifty plants in bloom ”’ 
Some verses by Professor Bailey of Providence, that have been 
reprinted several times since they first appeared inthe N Y 
Evening Post, deserve quotation whenever Calypso 1s mentioned, 
if for no other reason than to prove that a botanist may love 
the object of his study for its own own sahe Stiuch by their 
out-door flavor and picturesqueness, I committed them to mem- 
