plants died, and there was an
end of it for the time. I may mention an instance of more recent date,
where the eye-witness of a collector was flatly rejected at home.
Monsieur St. Leger, residing at Asuncion, the capital of Paraguay, wrote
a warm description of an orchid in those parts to scientific friends.
The account reached England, and was treated with derision. Monsieur St.
Leger, nettled, sent some dried flowers for a testimony; but the mind of
the Orchidaceous public was made up. In 1883 he brought a quantity of
plants and put them up at auction; nobody in particular would buy. So
those reckless or simple or trusting persons who invested a few
shillings in a bundle had all the fun to themselves a few months
afterwards, when the beautiful _Oncidium Jonesianum_ appeared, to
confound the unbelieving. It must be added, however, that orchid-growers
may well become an incredulous generation. When their judgment leads
them wrong we hear of it, the tale is published, and outsiders mock. But
these gentlemen receive startling reports continually, honest enough for
the most part. Much experience and some loss have made them rather
cynical when a new wonder is announced. The particular case of Monsieur
St. Leger was complicated by the extreme resemblance which the foliage
of _Onc. Jonesianum_ bears to that of _Onc. cibolletum_, a species
almost worthless. Unfortunately the beautiful thing declines to live
with us--as yet.

_Cattleya Dowiana_ was rediscovered by Mr. Arce, when collecting birds:
it must have been a grand moment for Warscewicz when the horticultural
world was convulsed by its appearance in bloom. _Cattleya aurea_ had no
adventures of this sort. Mr. Wallis found it in 1868 in the province of
Antioquia, and again on the west bank of the Magdalena; but it is very
rare. This species is persecuted in its native home by a beetle, which
accompanies it to Europe not infrequently--in the form of eggs, no
doubt. A more troublesome alien is the fly which haunts _Cattleya
Mendellii_, and for a long time prejudiced growers against that fine
species, until, in fact, they had made a practical and rather costly
study of its habits. An experienced grower detects the presence of this
enemy at a glance. It pierces an "eye"--a back one in general,
happily--and deposits an egg in the very centre. Presently this growth
begins to swell in a manner that delights the ingenuous horticulturist,
until he remarks that its length does not