rong breastbone, so to
say, and five projecting ribs on either side, arching round diagonally
from the back--pale brown on a darker ground. The dorsal is all yellow,
spotted with brown, but the crest overhangs, showing its white underside.

_Drewett's variety._--Dorsal white, with a green base and huge blotches of
red-brown; greenish petals lined with the same; ruddy greenish slipper.

_Eximium._--A natural hybrid doubtless, though we cannot guess what its
other parent may be; it came among a lot of the ordinary form. Very small.
The funny little dorsal is yellow, spotted throughout with red. The small
petals have a crimson tinge, much darker in the upper length. Slipper dull
crimson; the yellow shield of the column is very conspicuous on that
ground.

_Hector._--The dorsal is pale grass-green, with a white crest and margin
and large chestnut spots; petals and slipper reddish ochre.

_Punctatum_ is a title very commonly bestowed when the usual spots run
together, making small blotches, arranged in lines; often the petals have
a white margin, more or less broad, which shows them off.

Here also I should mention the famous Cyp. ins. Sanderae, though, as a
matter of fact, it is lodged elsewhere. The story of this wonderful orchid
has often been told, but not every one has heard it. I may be allowed to
quote my own version, published in _About Orchids--a Chat_ (Chapman and
Hall, 1893). 'Among a great number of Cypripedium insigne received at St.
Albans, and "established" there, Mr. Sander noted one presently of which
the flower-stalk was yellow instead of brown, as is usual. Sharp eyes are
a valuable item of the orchid-growers' stock-in-trade, for the smallest
peculiarity among such "sportive" objects should not be neglected.
Carefully he put the yellow-stalk aside. In due course the flower opened
and proved to be all golden. Mr. Sander cut his plant in two, sold half
for seventy-five guineas at Protheroe's auction rooms, and the other half
to Mr. R. H. Measures. One of the purchasers divided his plant and sold
two bits at a hundred guineas each. Another piece was bought back by Mr.
Sander, who wanted it for hybridising, at two hundred and fifty guineas.'
Not less than forty exist perhaps at the present time, for as soon as a
morsel proves big enough to be divided, divided it is. Here we have two
fine plants and a healthy young fragment.

[Illustration: CYPRIPEDIUM INSIGNE, VAR. SANDERAE.]

To describe the flower