Volume XIV. 
JANUARY, 1885. 
No. 1. 
ORCHIDS—THE ROYAL FAMILY OF PLANTS. 
Phal^nopsis. 
(Butterfly Plant,) 
D uring the past 
two years we have 
given our readers much 
information from differ¬ 
ent writers, with illustra¬ 
tions of several speci¬ 
mens, of this popular 
member of the Plant 
family. 
This winter, an en¬ 
thusiastic lover of these 
rare treasures — Har¬ 
riet Stewart Miner 
—has given to the world 
the results of her studies 
in a sumptuous vol¬ 
ume which bears faithful 
reproduction, in colors 
true to nature, of her 
twenty-four drawings of 
leading Orchids — prin¬ 
cipally from the valuable 
collections of Fred¬ 
erick L. Ames, Esq., 
at North Easton, Mass., 
and Major Alexander 
H. Davis, at Syracuse, N. Y. Accompanying these 
gems of art—each one of which fills a page 10x14 
inches—there are forty brief articles upon Orchids in 
general; upon the seven orders or tribes, which she 
divides as follows: 
1st Tribe Malaxe/e, i. e., Softness or Waxy Softness. 
2d “ Epidendreve : Something growing upon 
Trees. 
3d “ Vandea: : Sanskrit for Mistletoe, or Tree 
Orchid. 
4th “ Ophre.e : The Eyebrows ; referring to the 
ancient fashion of painting the eyebrows. 
5th “ Arethusea; : From the name of a nymph of 
Diana, fabled to have been transformed 
into a fountain. 
6th “ NeottE/E : A Bird's Nest. 
7th “ Cypripedea: : Venus's Slipper. 
and upon different examples among the varieties of 
these several tribes, accompanying many of the de¬ 
scriptions with appropriate selections from leading 
