THE LADIES’ FLORAL CABINET. 
39 
Senicio microglossus was some kind of Ivy, so closely do 
their leaves resemble each other ; and we have one South 
American Calceolaria {fuchsicefolia or deflexd), which 
has leaves singularly like those of the Fuchsia, and might 
be mistaken for one when not in bloom. That some 
Euphorbias, when out of flower, can scarcely be distin¬ 
guished from Cacti is a well-known fact. The milky sap 
of the Euphorbias is so different from the watery juices of 
the Cactus family, however, that a prick with a knife-point 
settles the question when one’s eyesight fails to decide. 
sepalled Peristeria, in the centre of which a little dove is 
formed by the column and petals. There are Brassia 
flowers like long-legged green spiders, and a Cypripedium 
from Siberia has big pouched flowers, the lips and petals 
of which are singularly suggestive of an octopus as it pro¬ 
pels itself through the water. Here also we note flower- 
spikes of Pleurothallis and Dendrochilum, the flowers of 
which are not unlike those of some tropical Ignats or 
midges, so airily do they float in mid-air, suspended on the 
most dainty of hair-like stalks. Near the base of the illus- 
A Bunch of Quaint Flowers. 
Again, we have Cycads {St anger a) resembling Ferns, 
while some of the Ferns, and at least one Pandanad, mimic 
the Palms in port and leafage. That the flowers of some 
plants, notably those of Orchids, bear some resemblance 
to spiders, birds and insects, is an old story, and one 
which is well illustrated in the engraving. Among our 
native wildings we have the Bee, Spider, Fly and Butter¬ 
fly Orchids, to say nothing about our Ladies’ Slipper plant 
{Cypripedium), and that of other terrestrial Orchids, the 
flowers of which resemble a lizard or newt in contour and 
markings. In the engraving we have the yellow Cycnoches 
represented, and its likeness to a swan is easily seen. 
There also is the tropical Butterfly Orchid with outspread 
wings and long antennas; so also a flower of the waxy- 
tration are shown some curious examples of the ‘ leaf ’ and 
‘ dead stick ’ insects which Miss North has portrayed so 
well in some of her paintings of tropical life. It is indeed 
wonderful how closely these living animals resemble things 
inanimate, so closely, indeed, that I have often been a little 
startled when I saw them move, just as I once was when 
I caught hold of a harmless little green flower snake, 
thinking it was the stem of a Nepenthes of which the 
spotted pitchers were dangling overhead. No doubt this 
mimicry in the case of insects and animals is to some 
extent protective, inasmuch as it aids their concealment 
from their natural enemies; but why Orchid flowers should 
resemble insects, or why a Groundsel should try to look 
like Ivy, is a question not quite so easy of solution.” 
