184 



ONCIDIUM BATEMANNIANUM. 



half inches broad, of a rich green, obscurely marked towards the base with dark spots. Scapes 

 several, from six to eight feet long, glaucous, clothed with pale, acute, distant bracteas, sheathing 

 at the base. Sepals and petals reddish brown, slightly marked with yellow ; lip, column, and 

 wings, of a rich brilliant yellow; the crest (which is yellow, copiously marked with delicate 

 patches of minute brown spots) consists of five elevated, parallel, longitudinal ridges, of which the 

 two external ones terminate in horn-like processes ; the central one is continued forwards, and 

 terminates in a sharp, abrupt ridge, beneath which it spreads laterally, even upon the base of the 

 lateral lobes of the lip, thus presenting a broad surface, covered with numerous tooth-like 

 processes. 



This new and handsome species of Oncidium is in the collection of George 

 Barker, Esq., of Springfield, who received it from M. Parmentier, of Paris. It 

 is closely allied to O. altissimum and 0. Baueri, but is sufficiently distinct from 

 each of those species. It differs from Baueri in its smooth pseudo-bulbs, which 

 scarcely present the slightest angle, in the wings of the column, which are some- 

 what rounded (not truncated), in the less compound structure of the scape, which 

 is panicled merely at the apex, and in the clear and brilliant colour of the flowers. 

 From altissimum it differs also in the shape of the pseudo-bulbs, and in the erect 

 (not decumbent) scape ; while it differs from both in the more distant position 

 of the bracteas upon the scape, (the internodes being usually six inches in length), 

 and in the numerous projections which compose the crest. The pseudo-bulb and 

 foliage, as represented in our plate, are greatly diminished in size. 



The specific name, as suggested by M. Parmentier, we have great pleasure in 

 adopting, in compliment to a gentleman who has for some years devoted himself 

 to the cultivation of this interesting tribe of plants, who has been the means of 

 introducing to this country a great number of new species, and who is illustrating 

 many of them in one of the most magnificent works ever published in this or any 

 other country, " The Orchidacese of Mexico and Guatemala, by James Bateman, 

 Esq." 



