In the winter of 1882, my then employer, Prof. Richardson, handed me a paper of seed he had just received from a lady friend in Brazil, without name, but represented as the prettiest flower in that country. I took an interest in it, and after the plants came up, I potted them off in thumbs, and put them on the bench in the propagating house, where they stubbornly refused to grow any more. In making room, some time after, I put them outside in a cold frame, where they almost immediately commenced to move and push roots through the pots. I then placed three small plants in a 10-in. pot, and stuck a piece of Orange branch in the centre for them to climb on, as they appeared to incline that way. I gave them the protection of a lath-house all summer, where they grew away and covered the branch. In September, I moved them to the palm-house, and they bloomed in October of the same year - the first time, I think, in the United States - and turned out to be Aristolochia elegans. We had so many other good things, I did not think it worth a notice at the time.

The plants seed very freely, and through the courtesy of my late employer, Dr. T. G. Richardson, New Orleans, La., I am enabled to send you a few. The plant is very interesting. While in seed, the pod bursts open and remains suspended half full of seed, the seed hanging by five or six thread-like appendages, which combine into one higher up, and give the plant the appearance of being covered all over with little hanging-baskets.

Seed was distributed by me at that time in Belgium, France, England and other places, and I understand is now advertised as a novelty by a London firm. It is also the subject of a notice by your correspondent "G. W. O.," in the Monthly for November. The plant is very well worth cultivation. Georgetown, D. C.

[Dr. Richardson, and a lady near Philadelphia, have also kindly sent seeds, the latter observing that it blooms beautifully during the summer in the open air near that city. - Ed. G. M].