garlands of snowy bloom twelve to twenty inches long are prone to fall
into raptures; but imagine it as a long-established specimen appears
just now at St Albans, with racemes drooping two and a half feet from
each new growth, clothed on either side with flowers like a double train
of white long-tailed butterflies hovering! _A. Scottianum_ comes from
Zanzibar, discovered, I believe, by Sir John Kirk; _A. caudatum_, from
Sierra Leone. This latter species is the nearest rival of _A.
sesquipedale_, showing "tails" ten inches long. Next in order for this
characteristic detail rank _A. Leonis_ and _Kotschyi_--the latter rarely
grown--with seven-inch "tails;" _Scottianum_ and _Ellisii_ with
six-inch; that is to say, they ought to show such dimensions
respectively. Whether they fulfil their promise depends upon the grower.

With the exceptions named, this family belongs to Madagascar. It has a
charming distinction, shared by no other genus which I recall, save, in
less degree, Cattleya--every member is attractive. But I must
concentrate myself on the most striking--that which fascinated Darwin.
In the first place it should be pointed out that _savants_ call this
plant _AEranthus sesquipedalis_, not _Angraecum_--a fact useful to know,
but unimportant to ordinary mortals. It was discovered by the Rev. Mr.
Ellis, and sent home alive, nearly thirty years ago; but civilized
mankind has not yet done wondering at it. The stately growth, the
magnificent green-white flowers, command admiration at a glance, but the
"tail," or spur, offers a problem of which the thoughtful never tire. It
is commonly ten inches long, sometimes fourteen inches, and at home, I
have been told, even longer; about the thickness of a goose-quill,
hollow, of course, the last inch and a half filled with nectar. Studying
this appendage by the light of the principles he had laid down, Darwin
ventured on a prophecy which roused special mirth among the unbelievers.
Not only the abnormal length of the nectary had to be considered; there
was, besides, the fact that all its honey lay at the base, a foot or
more from the orifice. Accepting it as a postulate that every detail of
the apparatus must be equally essential for the purpose it had to serve,
he made a series of experiments which demonstrated that some insect of
Madagascar--doubtless a moth--must be equipped with a proboscis long
enough to reach the nectar, and at the same time thick enough at the
base to withdraw