NEW OR NOTEWORTHY ORCHIDS 
returned the originals. But it is difficult to overlook the 
motives which prompted Reichenbach to have his herbarium, 
together with loaned specimens, sealed for a quarter of a 
century; that is, for a sufficient length of time to deprive 
his contemporaries of its service and to interfere with the 
progress of orchidology. When death overtook the man who 
criticised Achille Richard’s brevity and who attempted 
to outlaw Richard’s species, his last will and testament 
put under lock and key the evidence on which some of 
Richard’s work was based. This is the explanation of the 
mysterious absence of many critical specimens and draw¬ 
ings from the Richard Herbarium in Paris. 
Stelis cuspidata Ames sp. nov. Caules secundarii 
elongati, vaginati, monophylli. Folium anguste elliptico- 
lanceolatum, coriaceum, utrinque attenuatum, quam pe- 
dunculus cum racemo brevius. Pedunculus cum racemo 
gracilis. Flores ut videtur flavescentes, satis distantes, 
distichi. Bracteae racemi infundibuliformes, acutae. Sepa- 
la late ovata, acuta, trinervia. Petala cuneata, apice 
valde incrassata, acuta, trinervia. Labellum subquadratum 
trilobatum; lobis lateralibus porrectis, obtusis; lobo medio 
ascendenti, lineari-triangulari, acuto, sulcato, carnoso. 
Columna abbreviata. 
Plants caespitose. Secondary stems 2.8 cm. or more 
long, about 2 mm. in diameter, vaginate, monophyllous. 
Leaf 5-7.5 cm. long, 7-9 mm. wide, narrowly elliptic- 
lanceolate, acute, coriaceous, contracted at base into a 
distinct petiole, shorter than the inflorescence. Petiole 
about 1 cm. long, sulcate. Peduncle 7-8.5 cm. long, with a 
closely oppressed sheath at base, floriferous for the greater 
part of its length. Bracts of the inflorescence about 2 mm. 
long, infundibuliform, acute, diaphanous. Flowers about 
4 mm. apart. Pedicel and ovary 4-7 mm. long. Flowers 
very small, yellowish in dried specimens. Lateral sepals 
1.75-2 mm. long, about 1 mm. wide, broadly ovate, acute, 
3-nerved. Dorsal sepal similar to the laterals. Petals 
hardly 1 mm. long, cuneate, abruptly acute, thickened at the 
tip, 3-nerved. Labellum about 1 mm. long, about .75 mm. 
