orchids and orchidology in central america. 500 ... - lankesteriana.org

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February 1, 1864). On Feb. 9, 1864, Arce arrives at
Puntarenas, travels first to the North, along the Gulf of
Nicoya, and goes later to the highlands. At the end of
that year, Arce arrives in Panama. His younger brother
is his companion on his expedition. “Arce is now
here... The poor fellow has been very sick with fever,
and his little brother almost died from the same cause...
I have advised him Arce not to start on his expedition
to Chiriquí until he is in a condition to insure his ability
to go straight through” (Letter from Dow to Salvin,
December 19, 1864). However, Arce seems to have
been more successful in collecting birds than orchids.
Another collector was sent by Skinner to Central
America. In one of Skinner’s last letters, to Captain
Dow in Panama on October 17 th , 1866, he said: “By
this steamer we have sent you a fine young fellow, a
Mr. Carl Kramer, who is to go on at once to Costa Rica.
If Arce is still in Panama when this reaches, he will go
on with him, but Arce has been so dilatory about going
after the birds and plants we want, that others have been
beating us in our manor. Cattleya dowiana surpasses
all the Cattleyas yet known... we must get a batch of
it.... And I hope you will for Dowiana’s sake take care
that his [Kramer’s] collections reach us well, … for
my credit is at stake. I never was beat. …Dowiana
for ever.” About the naming of Cattleya dowiana we
follow Veitch: “It was the wish of Warscewicz, the
original discoverer, that his plant should bear the name
Lawrenceana, in compliment to Mrs. Lawrence of
Ealing, a generous patroness of Horticulture, but as his
specimens miscarried, this fact was not made known
until after Bateman had named it in compliment to
Captain J. M. Dow of the American Packet Service, to
whose kindness orchidists and men of science owe so
much” (Veitch, 1906: 116-117).
Skinner’s partner Klee also discovered a new
species: Epidendrum myrianthum Lindl. (Klee s.n.),
again collected in Guatemala.
In December 1866, Skinner arrived in Panama, on
his way to Guatemala, where he pretended to wrap
up his business for he wanted to retire in England.
He crossed the Isthmus in a railcar and still had time
to collect his last orchids. In those days he wrote to
LANKESTERIANA
LANKESTERIANA 9(1—2), August 2009. © Universidad de Costa Rica, 2009.
Veitch: “I have sent home a box, with orders that it
may be sent to you at once. You will find an Ionopsis
which may be good, Pleurothallis, and some very
curious Epidendra” (Hamilton, 1993: 182). A few days
later, on January 9 th , 1867, he died in Colón, Panama,
a victim of yellow fever. He was buried at Mount
Hope Cemetery, in Colón and his tombstone bears the
following inscription:
“S.I.M. GEORGII URE SKINNER F.L.S. E. SCOTIA ORTI
QUEM INTER OCEANOS CUM TRIGANTANOVIES
TRANSIISSET GUATEMALAM ASCENSURAM DEUS
MISERECORS MUNDANO EX MARI PORTUM IN OPTATUM
VOCAVIT DIE JANUARII NONE A.D. MDCCCLXVII
R.I.P. BEATI MUNDO CORDE CUONIAM IPSI DEUM
VIDEBRUNT. DEO GRATIAS.” 19
Lindley dedicated to him the genus Uroskinnera,
from the Scrophulariaceae. Captain John M. Dow,
after receiving the sad news of Skinner’s death, wrote
to his wife (March 30, 1867): “May the mantle of his
energy and enthusiasm for science rest on his friends
who still await the call which he received, to rest from
his labour.”
After Skinner´s death (Klee had passed away in
1853), Klee’s son inherited his business interests in
Guatemala, but had to accept the condition to use
‘Skinner’ as his second name. He named himself
therefore Jorge Skinner Klee. His son joined both
family names and since that time the family name
Skinner-Klee is common in Guatemala, where
numerous descendants of both partners still live and
carry their combined names (Wagner, 2007: 43).
James Bateman (1811-1897) (Fig. 27) was
undoubtedly the greatest beneficiary from Skinner’s
collections. Within ten years of beginning his relation
with Skinner, “Bateman possessed the finest examples
of Guatemalan orchids then available in England”
(Reinikka, 1964: 297). “After several years of enjoying
the orchidaceous bounty sent to him by Skinner,
Bateman conceived the brilliant idea of sharing his
good fortune with the rest of the world… by publishing
a book with the largest illustrations of orchids ever
seen…. The title would be The Orchidaceae of Mexico
19 “In loving memory of George Ure Skinner, F.L.S., born in Scotland, who when he had crossed the oceans thirty-nine times and
was about to go to Guatemala, was summoned by a merciful God from the wordly sea to a pleasant haven on the 9th of January
1867. R.I.P. Blessed are the pure in the heart for they shall see God. Thanks be to God.” – Translation by Mary Raymond Daniell,
great-granddaughter of Skinner. In Hamilton, 1993.