back. The lip is scarcely longer than the sepals, often slightly downy in the centre, turned back on each side with three short lobes, the middle one the largest. The tubers of all the Orchis plants contain a good deal of farinaceous nutritious matter, consisting, according to modern chemists, of a principle called Bassorin. This substance is commonly known as saloop, or salep, a word derived from the Persian name of the Orchis, which, according to Forskhale, is sahleb. When boiled in water, it used to be sold at the corners of the streets in London, and was a favourite drink with coal-heavers, porters, and other hard-working men. It is still highly esteemed in the East; and during the Great Exhibition of 1851 was exhibited and sold as a beverage. It is said to contain more nutritious matter according to its bulk than any other vegetable substance, and that an ounce a day will sustain a man; hence it is a favourite food, from its portability, with pedestrian travellers in wild deserts and uninhabited countries. MAN, OR MILITARY ORCHIS. THIS is a handsome species of Orchis, from one to two feet high, with entire tubers. It is difficult to say what fancy has given rise to the name; the red colour K of the flowers or the shape of the root may have suggested a soldier-like resemblance. The leaves in the lower part of the stem vary from broadly oval to oblong; they are usually three to five inches long. The flowers are numerous, in a dense oblong spike, with short bracts. The sepals are red or purple, and converge over the petals and column in the shape of a helmet. The lip is more or less spotted with rough, red points, and four-lobed, or rather three-lobed, with two entire lobes, and a third one divided in the middle into two, with a small tooth in the cleft or notch. It is found on chalky hills, on the borders of woods, and in hilly pastures. Near London it should be looked for about Dorking, Rochester, and Northfleet. There are very many other British Orchis; all of them are pretty and attractive, and one, A. Conopsea, has a fragrant, agreeable scent. BEE ORCHIS. OPHRYS APIFERA. THIS plant belongs to the family Orchidaceæ, and to a section of that family most curiously eccentric in the forms of its flowers, very closely resembling the Orchies with the habits, tubers, and foliage of that group of plants; but the flowers of Ophrys have no spur, and the lip is usually very curved, resembling, |