22 
CYCNOCHES pentadactylon. 
Five-fingered Swan-neck. 
GYXANDRIA MONANDRIA. 
Nat. ord. Orchidacese § Yandex. 
CYCNOCHES. Botanical Register, vol. 2\.fol. 1742. 
C. pentadactylon ; racemo brevi stricto, sepalis petalisque lanceolatis reflexis 
supremo incurvo, labelli unguiculati margine revoluto dorso adnato, hy- 
pochilio cornu recto incurvo aucto, metachilio 4-lobo medio foveato la- 
ciniis 2 posticis obtusis carnosis incurvis anticis subulatis, epichilio lin- 
guiformi acuto laevi. Supra misc. no. 26. 
The fleshy-stemmed Orchidacese, consisting of Catase- 
tum, Cycnoches, Mormodes, and Cyrtopodium, probably form 
a group (Catasetidse), among which we find the most astonish- 
ing deviations from ordinary structure, and the most startling 
variations from what appears to be the rule in other parts of 
the organic world. If we w r ere informed that the Camelopard 
in the Zoological Gardens had shortened the vertebrae of its 
neck till it was no longer than a cow’s, or that a Kangaroo 
had exchanged its tail for the switch of a Shetland pony, a 
more surprising thing would not be announced than those 
changes with which we are now familiar in this group of 
Orchidacese. 
How Myanthus, Monachanthus, and Catasetum have been 
seen to change into each other has been already told in this 
work, (Vol. 23, t. 1951.) An instance is also mentioned at 
the same place, of Cycnoches Loddigesii having been caught 
in the very act of playing similar tricks ; and with the forth- 
coming number of Mr. Bateman’s Orchidacese of Mexico and 
Guatemala, a yet more startling case will be recorded. 
All these things are here mentioned for the sake of shew- 
ing how difficult it is in such plants to judge correctly as to 
what may be a species and what a sport. Influenced by these 
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