The first name that arises to most people in 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. Mossiæ_, from Caraccas; fourth, _C. Trianæ_ 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. Trianæ_ 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. Mossiæ_ 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 instances will be mentioned in their place.