were
despatched afterwards, Roezl practically introduced the species in 1870.
Conscious of supreme merit, it is far from eager to bloom; but at
Woodlands we do not personally feel this drawback.

Of course there are many varieties of Cattleya gigas, for it is truly said
that two blooms of orchid exactly alike cannot be found. But I shall
mention only two.

_Imschootiana_ is huge even above its fellows, for a flower may be nine
inches across; the colour of sepal and petal mauve, with a crimson-purple
lip of splendour beyond conception. The golden throat under a
crimson-purple tube is lined with bright crimson; the characteristic
'eyes' gamboge, fading to white.

_Sanderae._--Some may well think this the loveliest of all its lovely kin.
Probably it is a foreign strain, though remote, which gives such supreme
softness to the magenta of the lip. On that ground the golden 'eyes' shine
forth with an abruptness positively startling. The broad sepals and petals
are sweetest rosy-mauve. Even the tube is deep crimson.

Here also is Cattleya bicolor Measuresiana, an exquisite example of a
species always charming to my taste. In this instance the sepals and
petals are purest and smoothest olive green; the very long shovel-shaped
labellum magenta-crimson, outlined and tipped with white.

Of Cattleya aurea again the varieties are many. It was brought from
Antioquia, New Granada, by Wallis, in 1868. If crimson and yellow,
tastefully disposed, make the most gorgeous combination possible, as all
human beings agree, this and its sister Dowiana are the most gorgeous of
flowers. The ordinary form of Cattleya aurea is nankin yellow, but in the
variety _R. H. Measures_, sepal and petal are gamboge. The glorious lip,
opening wide from the very base, has long brownish blurs descending from
the throat, on a golden ground which fades to yellow towards the edge.
There are two clear crimson patches in the front, and the margin is clear
crimson, whilst the whole expanse is covered with fine stripes of crimson
and gold alternately.

We come to the hybrids of these two which, dwelling side by side, have
been intermarrying for ages; and their offspring again have intermarried,
forming endless combinations. Cattleya Sanderiana was first discovered
under circumstances rather odd. One of Messrs. Sander's collectors, Mr.
Mau, was hunting for Odontoglossum crispum by Bogota. He came upon a
number of Cattleyas--none of them in bloom--and gathered any