THE AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST. 221 
any striking development. Suddenly, within a few days, late 
in October, all simultaneously swell out, become elongated, and 
burst into full bloom, the flowers at the tip of the raceme being 
almost as large and as fully expanded as those at the base. 
The sepals and petals are linear, widely spreading, an inch or 
more in length, orange-coloured with dark blotches. The ap- 
pearance is most striking and beautiful. Unlike the great 
majority of our epiphytic orchids (including other species of 
Sarcochilus), the flowers last but a day or two, and then wither 
as suddenly as they appeared. 
Dendrobium Kingianum, locally called Pink Rock Lily, is 
found on the Alum Mountain cliffs, in company with the much 
larger and more familiar Rock Lily, Dendrobiwm speciosum. In 
places the rock is quite hidden by the dense growth of D. Kin- 
gianum. It is a more stunted plant here than on the sandstone 
cliffs of the upper Clarence, about Copmanhurst, but the flowers 
do not share this diminution of size. They are exceedingly at- 
tractive, of varying shades of pink, and a pure white variety 
occurs. ; 
Galeola cassythoides, a climbing orchid, is fairly plentiful - 
on the western slopes of the Alum Mountain, and T have seen 
it also about Bungwahl on the Myall Lakes. The colouring of 
this orchid seems to vary. In this district its flowers are dark 
brown outside and a beautiful old-gold inside, or occasionally 
quite yellow. Being borne in great profusion, and lying flat. 
against the trunk of a tree or stump, they invariably attract 
attention. The dark, leafless stem climbs by means of suckers 
on short stalks opposed to the flowering branches, and I have 
seen it as high as 12 feet. It is reputed parasitic on roots, but 
this seems doubtful. Dr. H. L. Kesteven and I examined a 
large number of plants. We found the roots sometimes pene- 
trating the bark of the tree-root, but were disposed to think 
this was merely to obtain moisture, not to feed on the sap of 
the tree. Many plants were flourishing at the base of stumps . 
which have been dead for years and were decayed. We dis- 
covered a thread-like fungus in association with the roots, and 
thought it possible that Galeola, like Dipodium, lives in sym- 
biotic relation with the fungus. I believe that Dr. McImckie, 
of the Sydney University, is investigating in this direction. 
Calanthe veratrifolia is one of the noblest of our ground 
orchids, a denizen of moist brushes and palm scrubs. Its large 
handsome ribbed leaves qualify it for a place in any bush-house 
as a foliage-plant alone. It throws up a stout flowering stem 
to a height of from 2 to 4 feet. The flowers, an inch or more 
