j) SARCOPODIUM LOBBII. — A FEW WORDS ON THE " CRYSTAL PALACE." 2G9 
SARCOPODIUM LOBBII : tar. HEN SHALLII. 
Nat. Order.— Orchid ace-e. 
I 
Generic Character. — Sarcopodium, Lindley. — Sepals un- 
equal, the posterior linear lanceolate, acute, ventricose at the 
base ; the lateral broader, obliquely dilated, and ventricose at 
the base, leathery, adherent to the column. Petals somewhat 
like the posterior sepal, adherent to the back of the column. 
Labellum articulated to the column, cordate, acuminate, re- 
flexed, leathery. Column short, obtuse, without processes. 
Pollen-masses four. — Pseudo-bulbous herbs, with the habit of 
Bolbophyllum. Pseudo-bulbs one-leaved, springing from a scaly 
creeping stem ; scapes arising singly from the base of the pseudo- 
bulbs, sheathed at the base with imbricated scales. Flowers 
solitary, large, leathery. 
Sarcopodium Lobbii, Lindley. — Leaves petiolate, obovato- 
oblong, coriaceous ; peduncle naked, one-flowered, shorter than 
the leaf, somewhat glandulose at the base, breaking out from 
scaly, hooded, sickle-shaped, rather glandular bracts ; sepals 
oblong, acute, the lateral sickle-shaped ; the petals like the 
sepals, but smaller, reflexed, the labellum with long claw, cor- 
date-ovate, acute, channelled, recurved at the apex. 
Stn. — Sarcopodium Lobbii, Lindley, in Flower Garden, i. 
No. 199, fig. 98.— Bolbophyllum Lobbii, Lindley in Bot.Bcy.— 
Bot. Mag., t. 4532. 
Var. Henshallii. — HenshalTs Sarcopodium. — Flowers mucb 
smaller, and of paler colour. 
BESCRIPTION. — A stove epiphyte, with ovate smooth green pseudo-bulbs, springing from a 
creeping scaly stem. Leaf solitary at the apes of the pseudo-bulb, oblong-lanceolate, 
leathery. Scapes simple, one-flowered, arising from the side of the base of the pseudo-bulb ; 
shorter than the leaf, and having small convex sickle-shaped bracts imbricated over its base. 
Flowers solitary, spreading, about three inches across. Sepals leathery, lanceolate, acuminated, 
the lateral obliquely dilated, and all ventricose at the base. The petals somewhat like the 
posterior sepal, but sickle-shaped and converging forwards, adherent to the back of the column. 
Labellum articulated to the column, cordate acuminate, reflexed, leathery, dilated at the base. 
All parts of the flower yellowish buff, the posterior and lateral sepals, streaked with small light 
purple patches on the under side, the upper faces, and those of the sepals, faintly streaked with 
brownish purple. — A. H. 
History. — This plant seems scarcely to differ from S. Lobbii, except in the smaller size of 
the flowers and their paler colour ; and we have therefore referred it to that species. It was 
imported by Messrs. Rollisson of Tooting from Java, through their collector, Mr. John Henshall ; 
and our drawing was prepared from a plant exhibited by them last May at the fete of the Royal 
Botanic Society in the Regent's Park. It first blossomed in the spring of 1849. 
Culture. — The Sarcopodiums are closely related to the Bolbophyllums, and require very 
similar treatment. Thus they may either be grown on blocks'of wood, with a little sphagnum 
over the roots, and the blocks suspended from the roof of the orchid-house ; or they may be 
potted on an elevated mass of very light fibrous peat soil. In either case, the present subject 
requires to be kept in the warm division of the house. Beyond this, it requires the usual 
treatment of this race of plants ; and, in particular, to be guarded against excess of moisture in 
the winter season, and when at rest. — * 
A PEW WORDS ON THE " CRYSTAL PALACE." 
" To be or not to be, that is the question." 
M MONG the things for which this country holds a rather unenviable notoriety, its public build- 
X!\ ings arc not the least remarkable, for, from Buckingham Palace and the Houses of Parliament, 
down to the most recent, though perhaps the most remarkable, innovation of modern times — the Palace 
of Glass, it may safely be asserted there is not a public building which is not ruined by the situation 
in which it is placed. Yet at the same time we arrogate to ourselves great taste, and would have the 
world believe us matchless in such matters. But what are the facts ? The 11 miscs of Parliament by a 
stinking and nearly stagnant ditch. Buckingham Palace scarcely above the level of the water in its 
neighbourhood. Yet within a short distance of their present defective sites, there are situations as fine 
as could possibly be desired : for instance, the Houses of Parliament in Hyde Park. Buckingham Palao 
on Hampstend Heath, and the Crystal Palace in Kensington Gardens. For purposes of convenience 
no site could have been more statable than that on which the Crystal Palace now stands ; but for a 
permanent building there are many and serious objections to it, and for that reason, if it is to be 
retained as a monument of the grand idea on which it originated, ami as an emblem of good-will t" 
all mankind, we say down with it, and rebuild it in a place where, while it will be suitable, it sha 
show the world that we retain it as the first link in the chain of civilisation, and as the batt 
ground upon which the nations of the earth liist nut iii friendly rivalry -where art, science, intellect, 
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