The railway fare to Colon was sixty dollars at that
time, and he grudged the money. Setting his wits to work, Roezl
discovered that the company issued tickets from station to station at a
very low price for the convenience of its employes. Taking advantage of
this system, he crossed the isthmus for five dollars--such an advantage
it is in travelling to be an old campaigner! At one of the intermediate
stations he had to wait for his train, and rushed into the jungle of
course. _Peristeria_ abounded in that steaming swamp, but the collector
was on holiday. To his amazement, however, he found, side by side with
it, a Masdevallia--that genus most impatient of sunshine among all
orchids, flourishing here in the hottest blaze! Snatching up half a
dozen of the tender plants with a practised hand, he brought them safe
to England. On the day they were put up to auction news of Livingstone's
death arrived, and in a flash of inspiration Roezl christened his
novelty _M. Livingstoniana_. Few, indeed, even among authorities, know
where that rarest of Masdevallias has its home; none have reached Europe
since. A pretty flower it is--white, rosy tipped, with yellow "tails."
And it dwells by the station of Culebras, on the Panama railway.
Of genera, however, doubtless the Vandas are hottest; and among these,
_V. Sanderiana_ stands first. It was found in Mindanao, the most
southerly of the Philippines, by Mr.
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