THE AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST. 219 
of the commonest and most widely distributed ground orehids 
of eastern Australia, the little Hriochilus autumnalis, In 
my own herbarium specimens it extends from the western 
highlands of Tasmania to New England, and the North 
Coast, in N.S.W. Now it appears to be essentially a 
flower which dislikes extremes of temperature, because, in spite 
of the many and varied climates it must encounter between the 
limits just mentioned, it secures a fairly even temperature 
everywhere for its blossoms by the simple expedient of vary- 
ing its flowering time. As a general rule, we expect to find 
the same flower blossoming later in a cold climate than in a 
warm one. If you follow this rule in looking for Eriochilus 
you will be disappointed. Search for it in Tasmania after it 
has finished flowering in Sydney localities, and you will search 
in vain, You must seek it much earlier. On the high Middle- 
sex Plains, en route to Cradle Mountain, it flowers in January, 
and is not an autumn flower at all. In the same month I have 
gathered it on the banks of the Tamar below Launceston, though 
in warm and sheltered spots with an easterly aspect, if the 
season is mild, it lingers on throughs March. Cross the Straits 
to the mainland, and you will find that, speaking generally, the 
further north you go, the later Eriochilus is in its prime. The 
exception will occur when it invades high cold country, and 
there you will find it earlier, not later. In the Bulladelah dis- 
trict it is at its best from the last week of April to about mid- 
May, and you may still get it in June. On the western slopes 
of New England it likes April; on New England itself you will 
find it most abundant in March. é 
The notes which follow on various orchids of the district 
may be found of interest to lovers of the flowers. 
One of the most treasured specimens in my herbarium is a 
solitary plant, determined by Dr. R. H. Rogers, of Adelaide, 
as Caladenia tutelata. On the lower western slopes of the 
Alum Mountain, late in September, 1923, I found 2 flowers 
whose appearance suggested hybridising between Glossodia major 
and Caladenia carnea. As this seemed a venturesome theory, I 
sent one to Mr. J. H. Maiden for the National Herbarium. The 
other I have retained, but forwarded it to Dr. Rogers, a re- 
cognised authority, for his opinion. Mr. Maiden reported that 
the flower resembled one figured by Vitzgerald (Plate 28), but 
was not quite identical. Dr. Rogers returned the other with the 
opinion that it was identical with what he had recently described 
‘as a new Victorian and South Australian species under the 
name Caladenia tutelata. He had been disposed to regard it 
