ON THE CULTIVATION OF CORYANTHES. 
53 
potted, they should be put into the growing house, where they 
should have plenty of heat and moisture, till towards the latter 
end of September, when they should be removed into the cool 
and dry house, and have air every fine day, as that will harden 
and prepare the pseudo bulbs for flowering and growing with 
more vigour the following season. One great reason why this 
tribe of plants has never been flowered to perfection is, that 
they have all along been kept in the house in which they have 
been growing, and very often with the same heat and moisture 
as they had in their season of growth, so that the plants were 
always kept in a spongy state ; and thus they never could form 
flowering buds,—or if they did, these were often rotted off, or so 
much weakened, that they never could come to perfection. In 
their native country, after their season of growth is over, then 
follows a rather cool and very dry season, which ripens the sound 
or pseudo bulbs. This season is then followed by a third, which 
is their flowering season ; the temperature is warmer than that of 
the resting season, and the dews are more frequent and more 
copious. It will be seen at once that the mode of treatment for 
all Orchidacse is that, in their season of growth, they should have 
plenty of heat and moisture, and very little air; and in their 
season of rest, they should have no moisture, and abundance of 
air when the weather is fine, as that hardens and prepares the 
plants for flowering and growing with more vigour. 
The number of species in this genus is very few at present; but 
it is a truly natural genus in its habit and its flowers. I shall 
enumerate the known species, which are as follow. 
Coryanthes macrantha .—A nati ve of Brazil. This is truly a mag¬ 
nificent species ; the flowers are very large ; the sepals and petals 
are beautifully spotted ; and the lip and column have very much 
the appearance of a small helmet. When the flowers are fully 
expanded, the sepals and petals are thrown back, and have some- 
thing the appearance of the wings of a bat, and leave the lip and 
column exposed. The column has two horns at the base, out of 
which comes a clear insipid fluid, that falls into the lip, which is 
formed like a cup ; and when it is full, the column separates from 
the lip, and the fluid runs out; and when it is all out, the column 
then gets into its place again ; and then it fills again, and so on 
for three or four times, till the flower is completely exhausted 
and dies. The flower is of a very short duration ; but if the plant 
