CATASETUM-ITS CHARACTERS, VARIETIES, ETC. 1 85 
ALLIED GENERA. 
Cycnociies Loddigesii. —This is the swan plant, and a 
most singular genus it is. The flower is in form like a swan : 
the column forms the neck, and the lip the breast and the 
other portion of the body. This genus comes near Cata- 
setum in habit, and only differs from that genus in the forms 
of the flowers, and also in its mode of flowering. The flower- 
stems come out on the upper part of the pseudo-bulb, instead, 
as in Catasetum, from the base. I think this genus ought only 
to be a sectional division of Catasetum; and I have no doubt but 
that it will prove, one day or other, to be only a division of that, 
instead of a distinct genus; for it has shown some inclina¬ 
tion to sport, as I once saw it, with a double flower, but not a 
double peduncle. The sepals and petals are of a dull green, 
spotted with brown; they are thrown quite open, so that they 
leave the lip and column perfectly free, and the flower has the 
perfect appearance of a young swan with its wings up ; the lip is 
white, and dotted with brown. This requires the same treatment 
as Catasetum. Native country, Surinam ; introduced in 1830. 
Cycnoches chlorochilon. —This is another most singular 
species of this curious genus. The whole flower is green, and 
it has a very strong smell of the rhubarb of the shops ; the lip is 
large, and the column is small in proportion to the flower; as 
every part is very large but the column, the flowers are nearly 
double the size of Loddigesii ; the sepals and petals are thrown 
back like the other species. This has, in my opinion, a stronger 
resemblance to a swan than the last. A native of Demerara; 
introduced in 1838. This also requires the same treatment as 
Catasetum. 
Cycnoches ventricosus. —This is another beautiful species, 
and also very distinct from the other two. The flowers are smaller 
than the last species, and of a yellowish green colour; and it has 
the same smell as the dark species : the lip is more gibbous than 
in the other two species ; hence its name : the sepals and petals 
are thrown so much back, that they touch one another. The re¬ 
semblance of this species to a swan is very perfect. A native of 
Guatemala; introduced in 1835. Requires the same treatment 
as Catasetum . 
