To follow in the footsteps of the collector is to acquire a considerable knowledge of the countries of the earth. Orchids luxuriate in warm and humid places, thousands of feet above the level of the sea. They have outdistanced the Anglo-Saxon in the number of lands they have colonised. You may find them in Africa, in North, Central, and South America, in Australia and New Zealand, in Asia, in Madagascar, in Europe--everywhere except in very cold climates. One day the orchid hunter may be on the high road of civilisation, pursuing his quest like an ordinary tourist; another he will have plunged into regions dark as darkest Africa, as far removed from modern conditions as the dwarfs of Stanley's limitless forest. In the search for a single orchid he comes across many varieties of the human race, and on a thousand points connected with modes of life, of governments, of the relations of places one to another, far and near, he is better informed than many an arm-chair specialist. [Footnote A: Lady's Slipper.] _A Thing that Glistened._ +By Frank R. Stockton.+ In the fall of 1888 the steam-ship _Sunda_, from Southampton, was running along the southern coast of Long Island, not many hours from port, when she was passed by one of the great British liners, outward bound. The tide was high, and the course of both vessels was nearer the coast than is usual, that of the _Sunda_ being inside of the other. As the two steamers passed each other there was a great waving of hats and handkerchiefs. Suddenly there was a scream from the _Sunda_. It came from Signora Rochita, the _prima donna_ of an opera troupe which was coming to America in that ship. "I have lost my bracelet!" she cried in Italian, and then, turning to the passengers, she repeated the cry in very good English. The situation was instantly comprehended by everyone. It was late in the afternoon; the captain had given a grand dinner to the passengers, at which the _prima donna_ had appeared in all her glories of ornamentation, and the greatest of these glories--a magnificent diamond bracelet--was gone from the arm with which she had been enthusiastically waving her lace handkerchief. The second officer, who was standing near, dashed into the captain's office, and quickly reappeared with chart and instruments, and made a rapid calculation of the position of the vessel at the time of the accident, making due allowance for the few minutes that had passed since the first cry of the signora. After consultation with the captain and re-calculations of the distance from land and some other points, he announced to the weeping signora that her bracelet lay under a little black spot he made on the chart, and that if she chose to send a diver for it she might get it, for the depth of water at that place was not great.