ped with rosy magenta.

_Tyrianthina_ takes its name from the Tyrian purple or wine-coloured tips
of the petals--a singular development. The labellum shows the same tint,
even darker.

Here also I note Catt. Harrisoniae _R. H. Measures_. It cannot be said
that this differs from the normal type in any respect; but one may venture
to assert that it is the finest example thereof--at least, a finer could
not be. Upon the mauve sepals and petals, much larger than usual and more
lively in colour, the great labellum, primrose and gamboge, with mauve
tip, stands out superbly. There is no more striking Cattleya than
Harrisoniae in this form.

A STORY OF CATTELEYA BOWRINGIANA

No tale hangs upon the discovery of Cattleya Bowringiana, so far as I have
heard. A planter named Turkheim sent it from British Honduras to Mr.
Bowring of Forest Farm, Windsor, in 1884. The species has a wide range.
Mr. Oversluys came upon it in Guatemala very shortly afterwards, and
curious incidents followed.

This admirable collector was hunting for Oncidium splendidum, a stately
flower not very uncommon once, but long extinct in Europe. No man knew its
home, but Mr. Sander, after close inquiry and profound deliberation,
resolved that it must be a native of Costa Rica. Thither he despatched Mr.
Oversluys, who roamed the wilderness up and down five years, seeking a
prize within his grasp all the time, so conspicuous that it escaped
notice--as sharp boys select the biggest names upon a map instead of the
smallest, to puzzle a comrade. But that is another story.

Irritated and despairing as time went by, but not permitted to abandon the
search, the collector found diversion now and again in a gallop through
the neighbouring States. And once he pushed as far as Guatemala. All these
forays were profitable, of course; such a shrewd and experienced hunter
finds game in every forest. But Mr. Oversluys was not equipped for the
wholesale business, as one may put it, on these expeditions. They were
reconnaissances. In Guatemala, at the moment which interests us, he had
only two servants and three mules.

I do not know exactly where he came across Cattleya Bowringiana; it might
be anywhere almost, apparently, in the Central American Republics. The
species was rare and very precious at the time--to be secured, though in
the smallest quantity. When Oversluys came upon it, he threw away the
miscellaneous rarities he had collected, hired two more mules--a