fhea I began my work on Philippine orchids 1 used to go religiously to work 
to run down every speodea in a. genus before 1 attempted a description* Scon I 
learned that there were certain islands that had very Facial floras and that some 
mountain tops were like islands in groat seas over which distribution by usual 
means would be impossible. X proved this again and again with Acorid um. 'lien 
I went into Spanish Honduras, a country from which only eleven or so orchids had 
hoen reported, T expected to find a distinctive flora, '"bat T found was a con¬ 
tinuation of the (Suatemlsui flora. I could name the species as I met them. And 
on a pine ridge that X "ms informed ran from far north, X picked up a truly Mexican 
element. Thiscf course, refers only to the coastl regions. T imagine that in the 
interior of the country there are valleys where endemism would ha of a Costa Rican 
type. 
1 understand that yop think Spider. 4nen isthmi, E. piliferum and E, floribundum 
are one and the same. }h l and f 3 are certainly the same. I do not have ray notes by 
me at the minute, but I ran under the Impression that Reicheobach for geographical 
reasons sv.de E« piliforum distinct from . fieri’nwdum# I have studied E, fieri— 
bundurt ruitil I grew sick of it, Then I had an assistant boil up and make camera luci 
da drawings of every specimen he cold find in herbaria. X decided that there was on 
ly one species in the mess. I have seen the type of I. oiliforum e d I remeber that 
I chucked it into K. floribundum* Memory is a fearful thing in science so please do 
not take these remarks as authoritative. At a more favorable time I roust answer your 
question when specimens end notes are beside me. 
I am interested in your reference to the aintinge of Coeta Rican botanicals* 
Let me have more about this. 
I have just stopped long enough to read a few lines of this letter* The samples 
make ne feel strongly that the time to stop has come. I sometimes wonder if the 
typewriter is a blessing because of the clear letters, a curse because it interpose 
itself between the writer and his powers of expression. 
Faithfully yours, 
