colour, with darker spots.

_Peristeria._--Greenish yellow, freely speckled with purple;
yellow-tailed.

_Melanopus._--Small, white, dotted with purple and yellow-tailed.

_Wallisii stupenda._---Pale lemon colour splashed with chocolate. There is
a curious white excrescence on each side the column, dotted with scarlet.

ONCIDIUMS

Of Oncidiums in this house I note:--

_Lamelligerum._--A very grand and noble flower, too rarely seen. It
belongs to the stately section of which Oncidium macranthum is the common
type. The great dorsal sepal swells out roundly from a stalk half an inch
long; the two lower resemble in shape those long-bladed paddles, with
scalloped edge, which are used by chiefs in the South Seas; in colour rich
brown, with a clear golden margin. The yellow petals also have a stalk,
but to give a notion of the large, beautiful, and complex development
which they carry at the ends is a hopeless endeavour. I have seen ladies'
work-baskets which faintly resemble it when wide open; made of the softest
straw, without end-pieces, only to be closed by tying a ribbon in the
centre. But really the case is desperate. I pass on.

_Tetracopis._--Another of the same group, even more rare, but not so
striking. Large, as they all are. Sepals a lively brown, gold edged;
petals bright yellow splashed with brown; lip yellow.

_Undulatum._--A third member of this handsome family. Sepals brown, petals
white, marbled with yellow and mauve at the base, spotted with purple
above, and streaked with yellow. Lip very small, as in all the other
cases, but conspicuous by reason of its bright purple tint.

_Ornithorhynchum album._--This is one of our oldest and commonest
species, discovered by Bonpland, who accompanied Humboldt to Mexico;
brought to Europe no long time afterwards. But the pure white variety
turned up to astonish the world very few years ago, and the names of those
happy mortals who possess a sample would make only a brief if
distinguished list.

_Loxense_ seems to have been not uncommon in our fathers' time, but no
plants have arrived from Peru--Loxa is the district--for many years. It
makes a long spike with branches, bearing a great number of large flowers;
sepals greenish ochre, crossed with blurs of chocolate; petals deep brown,
edged and tipped with yellow. Lip large and flowing, as it were,
orange-yellow, speckled with red in the throat.

_Weltoni._---Classed of late among Miltonias. A singular