The markings in the dried specimens being much deeper than in the fresh flowers, led Dr. Lindley to give it a name (_O. luteo-purpureum_) which is scarcely applicable to any variety that has yet appeared,--no _purple_ tints having been observed. DISSECTIONS.--1. Front view of lip and column; 2. Side view of ditto: _magnified_. Plate XVIII [Illustration: Odontoglossum Bictoniense.] PLATE XVIII. ODONTOGLOSSUM BICTONIENSE. THE BICTON ODONTOGLOSSUM. (VARIETY WITH LEAFY FLOWER-STEMS.) O. (LEUCOGLOSSUM) pseudobulbis oblongis compressis 2-3-phyllis, foliis ensiformibus undulatis patentibus scapo racemoso duplo brevioribus, bracteis herbaceis lanceolatis acuminatis ovario duplo brevioribus, sepalis petalisque subæqualibus lineari-lanceolatis maculatis, labelli ungue bilamellato limbo cordato acuminato undulato, columnæ alis transverse oblongis integris. CYRTOCHILUM BICTONIENSE, _Bateman_, _Orch. Mex. et Gua._ _t._ 6. ZYGOPETALUM AFRICANUM, _Bot. Mag._ _t._ 3812. Habitat in GUATEMALA, _Skinner_; circa 6-7000 ped. alt. DESCRIPTION. PSEUDOBULBS _oblong, 3 to 6 inches long, somewhat compressed, bearing 2 or 3_ LEAVES, _which are sword-shaped, spread open, much shorter than the upright purple many-flowered_ SCAPE. _The latter, in its normal state, is unbranched, and destitute of leaves, but in the variety represented in the Plate has numerous branches, and is leafy at the extremities_. BRACTS _herbaceous, lanceolate, acuminate, not half the length of the ovary_. SEPALS _and_ PETALS _nearly equal, linear-lanceolate, light-green spotted, or banded with brown_. LIP _with a bilamellate claw and a heart-shaped, acuminate limb, waved at the margin. In most cases the lip is white or nearly so, in others it has more or less of a rosy or purplish tint_. COLUMN-WINGS _transversely oblong, entire_. The Plate represents a remarkable state of this now well-known plant, which I have observed only in the collection of Mr. Aspinall Turner, of Pendlebury House, near Manchester. In its normal or ordinary condition _O. Bictoniense_ produces--in the winter months--simple, upright flower-stems, but in Mr. Turner's plant the stems are branched, and, what is still more extraordinary, are _leafy_ at their extremities! Nor was this peculiarity confined to the growth of a single season, for it has already reappeared at least three years in succession! It produces a very singular effect, though it can hardly be said to add to the beauty of the plant. _O. Bictoniense_, so called after Lady Rolle, of Bicton, in Devonshire, was the earliest species of this popular genus that ever reached England alive. It also formed a portion of the first box of Orchids that I ever received from Guatemala, whence they were sent to me in 1835 by my invaluable friend George Ure Skinner, now (1867) alas!--most suddenly and unexpectedly--numbered with the dead!