s _D. bigibbum_, of course, too well known for description; it dwells
on the small islands in Torres Straits. This species flowered at Kew so
early as 1824, but the plant died. Messrs. Loddiges, of Hackney,
re-introduced it thirty years later. _D. Johannis_, from Queensland,
brown and yellow, streaked with orange, the flowers curiously twisted.
_D. superbiens_, from Torres Straits, rosy purple, edged with white, lip
crimson. Handsomest of all by far is _D. phaloenopsis_. It throws out a
long, slender spike from the tip of the pseudo-bulb, bearing six or more
flowers, three inches across. The sepals are lance-shaped, and the
petals, twice as broad, rosy-lilac, with veins of darker tint; the lip,
arched over by its side lobes, crimson-lake in the throat, paler and
striped at the mouth. It was first sent home by Mr. Forbes, of Kew
Gardens, from Timor Lauet, in 1880. But Mr. Fitzgerald had made drawings
of a species substantially the same, some years before, from a plant he
discovered on the property of Captain Bloomfield, Balmain, in
Queensland, nearly a thousand miles south of Timor. Mr. Sander caused
search to be made, and he has introduced Mr. Fitzgerald's variety under
the name of _D. ph. Statterianum_. It is smaller than the type, and
crimson instead of lilac.

Bulbophyllums rank among the marvels of nature. It is a point
comparatively trivial that this genus includes the largest of orchids
and, perhaps, the smallest.

_B. Beccarii_ has leaves two feet long, eighteen inches broad. It
encircles the biggest tree in one clasp of its rhizomes, which
travellers mistake for the coil of a boa constrictor. Furthermore, this
species emits the vilest stench known to scientific persons, which is a
great saying. But these points are insignificant. The charm of
Bulbophyllums lies in their machinery for trapping insects. Those who
attended the Temple show last year saw something of it, if they could
penetrate the crush around _B. barbigerum_ on Sir Trevor Lawrence's
stand. This tiny but amazing plant comes from Sierra Leone. The long
yellow lip is attached to the column by the slenderest possible joint,
so that it rocks without an instant's pause. At the tip is set a brush
of silky hairs, which wave backwards and forwards with the precision of
machinery. No wonder that the natives believe it a living thing. The
purpose of these arrangements is to catch flies, which other species
effect with equal ingenuity if less elaboration. Ver