thinking of warm orchids
is Cattleya, and naturally. The genus Odontoglossum alone has more
representatives under cultivation. Sixty species of Cattleya are grown
by amateurs who pay special attention to these plants; as for the number
of "varieties" in a single species, one boasts forty, another thirty,
several pass the round dozen. They are exclusively American, but they
flourish over all the enormous space between Mexico and the Argentine
Republic. The genus is not a favourite of my own, for somewhat of the
same reason which qualifies my regard for _O. vexillarium_. Cattleyas
are so obtrusively beautiful, they have such great flowers, which they
thrust upon the eye with such assurance of admiration! Theirs is a style
of effect--I refer to the majority--which may be called infantine; such
as an intelligent and tasteful child might conceive if he had no fine
sense of colour, and were too young to distinguish a showy from a
charming form. But I say no more.

The history of Orchids long established is uncertain, but I believe that
the very first Cattleya which appeared in Europe was _C. violacea
Loddigesi_, imported by the great firm whose name it bears, to which we
owe such a heavy debt. Two years later came _C. labiata_, of which more
must be said; then _C. Mossiae_, from Caraccas; fourth, _C. Trianae_ named
after Colonel Trian, of Tolima, in the United States of Colombia. Trian
well deserved immortality, for he was a native of that secluded
land--and a botanist! It is a natural supposition that his orchid must
be the commonest of weeds in its home; seeing how all Europe is stocked
with it, and America also, rash people might say there are millions in
cultivation. But it seems likely that _C. Trianae_ was never very
frequent, and at the present time assuredly it is so scarce that
collectors are not sent after it. Probably the colonel, like many other
_savants_, was an excellent man of business, and he established "a
corner" when he saw the chance. _C. Mossiae_ stands in the same
situation--or indeed worse; it can scarcely be found now. These
instances convey a serious warning. In seventy years we have destroyed
the native stock of two orchids, both so very free in propagating that
they have an exceptional advantage in the struggle for existence. How
long can rare species survive, when the demand strengthens and widens
year by year, while the means of communication and transport become
easier over all the world? Other