ng of the tree to which they
cling. Mr. Burbidge secured one, a Grammatophyllum, 'as big as a
Pickford's van,' which a corvee of Dyaks could not lift. Some old
collections even in Europe show prodigious monsters; in especial, I am
told, that of the Duke of Northumberland at Alnwick. Mr. Astor has two
Peristeria elata at Cliveden of which the bulbs are as large as an ostrich
egg, and the flower stems rise to a height of nine feet! The most striking
instance of the sort I myself have observed, if not quite the biggest, was
a Cattleya Mossiae sent home by Mr. Arnold. It enclosed two great branches
of a tree, rising from the fork below which it was sawn off--a bristling
mass four feet thick and five feet high; two feet more must be added if we
reckon the leaves. As for the number of flower-scapes it bore last season,
to count them would have been the work of hours; roughly I estimated a
thousand, bearing not less than three blooms, each six inches across.
Fancy cannot rise to the conception of that gorgeous display. I doubt not
that the forest would be scented for a hundred yards round.

Such giant Cattleyas are very rare in the 'wild state.' An orchid, though
immortal, is subject to so many accidents that only species of very quick
growth attain great age; these are less exposed to the perils of youth,
naturally. From time to time, however, an Indian removes some plant which
strikes him for its beauty or its size, and starts it afresh on a tree not
too tall--and therefore young--in view of his hut. Thus it takes a new
lease of life and grows indefinitely. I have not heard that 'white' peons
are so aesthetic.

This Cattleya Mossiae had been rescued by an Indian. Mr. Arnold first saw
it on his memorable search for Masdevallia Tovarensis. I must tell that
episode to begin with.

More than thirty years ago a German resident at Tovar sent a white
Masdevallia to a friend in England. There were very few species of the
genus, few plants indeed, under cultivation at that time, and all scarlet.
The novelty made a vast sensation. For a good many years the owner kept
dividing his single specimen, and putting fragments on the market, where
they fetched a very long price. Under such circumstances a man is not
inclined to tell where his treasure comes from. At an earlier date this
gentleman had published the secret so far as the name 'Tovar' went. But
there are several places so called in Spanish America, and importers
hesitated. At le