Boston, Bxss., Say 2, 1925. 
355 Commonwealth Avenue, 
tly dear Lankestar: 
as 
Mr. A* M. Brenes is//, dumb as a turtle and in re¬ 
sponse to unfamiliar simulation, behaves like one. H© belongs, 1 
imagine, to that human group which is characterized by an unlimited 
capacity to take offence at well meant attentions and by on over¬ 
developed proneness to find bitter meanings in kind words. I wish 
he would tell me in plain terms wherein I have fallen below the 
standards ho sets for a fellow being. 
Are you seeking diversions at this blessed season 
of the yearf Try an "orchid a day** as a slogan when you divert. The 
woods about you are full of orchids, if Paul C. Standiey is a relia¬ 
ble informant. I very much want specimens of Stells, the mean genus 
Stolls, as Ridley terms it. In addition to dried specimens with 
flowers of then in alcohol, I want photographs of the habit to aid 
Blanche Amec in her drwings for my monograph of the Central Ameri¬ 
can species. Stelis narvula Lindl., would make an acceptable photo¬ 
graph. From an examination of Standley* 3 mighty effort to exhaust 
the orchid flora of Costa Rica, it would see® that this species is 
in the way of becoming a pernicious weed. It must take possession 
of your window-boxes, (if you have any in Cartage), and may by 
this time be smothering your Petunias. 
