10 
habit of E. nutans, from the garden of Mr. Brocklehurst, 
where nothing is recorded of its origin. Mr. Bateman, who 
sent it to me, states that it has a large branching panicle. 
The sweet-scented flowers are a dull yellowish green, bordered 
with dull purple ; the lip is more yellow than the sepals. It 
is a plant of more beauty than E. nutans. 
MAXILLARIA. 
The original genus of this name was so loosely defined 
that it was understood to comprehend all Orchidaceous plants 
whose floral envelopes are so arranged that they have a 
ringent appearance, and a decided extension in front in the 
form of a chin. I have no intention of discussing in this 
place the history of the genus, the additions made to it, or 
the limits of the new genera already formed in its vicinity ; 
but I shall confine myself to the condition in which it was 
left upon the publication of the “ Genera and Species of 
Orchidaceous Plants” in the year 1833. At that time the 
number of species, known or guessed at, was inconsiderable, 
and consisted of plants extremely different in appearance, as 
well as structure, but connected by the common character of 
a pair of simple or two-lobed pollen-masses, having a distinct 
gland with a single caudicula, and belonging to a flower 
whose lateral sepals, oblique at their base, were adherent to 
the lengthened foot of the column. In fact, Maxillaria, 
among Vandese, answered in many respects to Dendrobium 
among MalaxesB. 
But experience has shewn that such a character as this 
brings into association plants of very different appearance, 
that it includes many other characters, of as much importance 
as itself, and brings together a group of species inconveni- 
ently large for systematical purposes. Such being the case it 
has now become desirable to reconsider the distinctive marks 
of Maxillaria, to see how far they are capable of sub-division, 
and to endeavour to circumscribe Maxillaria proper within 
more definite limits than were assigned to it in 1833. 
The true Maxillarias, that is to say those intended by the 
authors of the Flora Peruviana, who founded the genus, are 
evidently the species with radical inflorescence, and a pseudo- 
bulbous growth, such as M.picta , punctata , squcilens , and the 
like ; they form a tolerably natural group, and have, in all 
