Transcriber's note: Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_). * * * * * A MONOGRAPH OF ODONTOGLOSSUM. BY JAMES BATEMAN, ESQ., F.R.S., F.L.S., ETC., AUTHOR OF "THE ORCHIDACEÆ OF MEXICO AND GUATEMALA." [Illustration] LONDON: L. REEVE & CO., 5, HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN. 1874. LONDON: SAVILL, EDWARDS AND CO., PRINTERS, CHANDOS STREET, COVENT GARDEN. TO HER ROYAL HIGHNESS ALEXANDRA, PRINCESS OF WALES, THIS MONOGRAPH OF A FAVOURITE SECTION OF A CHARMING FAMILY, COMMENCED ON THE EVE OF HER ROYAL HIGHNESS' ARRIVAL IN THIS HER ADOPTED COUNTRY, Is With Permission Dedicated, BY HER ROYAL HIGHNESS' LOYAL AND OBEDIENT SERVANT, JAMES BATEMAN. INTRODUCTION. At the time (1864) when this Monograph was commenced, the successful application of the system of cool treatment to Orchids accustomed to a moderate temperature in their native haunts gave a fresh impulse to the cultivation of that charming tribe of plants. By its means, what might almost be regarded as a new Orchid-world, teeming with interest and beauty, was suddenly brought within our reach. A fresh field was opened to the enterprise of collectors, the spirits of cultivators revived, and the hopes of botanists mounted high. Foremost among the spoils that we sought to secure, stood the various members of the genus ODONTOGLOSSUM, which from the days of Humboldt[1] and Lexarza, was known to abound in species pre-eminent for the loveliness and delicacy of their flowers but which had hitherto mocked the utmost efforts of our most skilful growers. For although (thanks to the labours of Warczewitz and Lobb) the Horticultural Society and Messrs. Veitch had more than once received large consignments of Orchids--among which were many _Odontoglossa_--from the mountain ranges of New Grenada and Peru, they had invariably succumbed under the stifling atmosphere to which, in common with the denizens of India, Guiana, or Madagascar, they were remorselessly consigned. Here and there, indeed, an accidental success was achieved in a greenhouse, but the hint was turned to no account, and as a rule--notwithstanding the repeated warnings and remonstrances of Mr. Skinner, Warczewitz, and others--for thirty years we persisted in the incredible folly of growing "cool" Orchids in "hot" stoves; so deeply rooted in the minds of horticulturists was the original prejudice! But it yielded at last, and no sooner had a few houses--constructed and managed on the cool-culture system--made it clear that the Orchids of temperate regions were prepared to submit to the skill of the cultivator, than a general raid was made upon the more accessible countries in which they were known to abound--more especially certain districts in Mexico and New Grenada. To the latter country, collectors were simultaneously sent off by the Horticultural Society, who despatched Mr. Weir; by Mr. Linden, of Brussels; and by Messrs. Low, of the Clapton