HISTORY OF ORCHID HYBRIDISATION. xxv. 



Figaro. Other combinations between the same four species are possible, it 

 not actuallv in existence. But the complexity does not end here, for a 

 similar result may be reached in three different ways. P. X Boyleanum was 

 raised from P. X Crossianum and P. X Harrisianum, but the union of P. 

 X nitens with P. X calophyllum, also that of P. X Ashburtonai with P. X 

 Measuresianum would agree on analysis, each being composed of equal 

 parts of P. barbatum, insigne, venustum and villosum. The second cross is 

 called P. X Patria, but the arrangement is not satisfactory. The third 

 cross has not been raised. 



Hybrids from Five Species are at present rare. The first was 

 Paphiopedilum X Kubele, raised from P. X oenanthum ? and P. X 

 Youngianum «? , which flowered in igoi. Two years later, P. X Kohinoor 

 appeared, raised from P. X oenanthum $ and P. X Haywoodianum S , 

 and in 1906 P. X Seraphis, from P. x Orpheus $ and P. X oenanthum <? . 

 All were raised by the late Mr. Reginald Young, of Liverpool, and it will 

 be noticed that in each case P. x oenanthum was one of the parents, so that 

 all have three species in common. In fact P. X Kubele and P. X Kohinoor 

 possess four species in common, for both P. x Youngiarmm and P. X 

 Haywoodianum are half derived from P. superbiens, and thus the difference 

 between them is in respect of only one out of the five original species. 



Hybrids of still greater complexity are clearly possible, but we do not 

 remember one having flowered }et. 



Variability of Hybrids. — An excellent example of the wide range of 

 variation seen in secondary hybrids is afforded by the case of Paphiopedilum 

 X Hera, derived from P. X Leeanum ? and P. Boxallii ^ , of which a series 

 of thirty flowers, arranged in three groups, have been figured (Journ. Roy. 

 Hoi't. Soc. xxvii. pp. 614-624, fig. 167-169 : Orch. Rev. 1903, pp. 71-73, fig. 

 16-18). They were selected from a series of forty-nine flowers, of which no 

 two were exactly alike. The thirty figured show great variation both in 

 shape and colour, some being profusely spotted and blotched with purple- 

 brown, and others much suffused with the same colour, while in a few 

 the purple markings are very much reduced. These differences may be 

 attributed to the varying influence in the offspring of the original species, 

 P. Boxallii, P. insigne and P. Spicerianum, and it emphasises the import- 

 ance of keeping accurate records, for their common origin would never have 

 been guessed. 



Still more remarkable is the case of P. aureum, a hybrid from P. 

 Spicerianum $ and P. nitens (Sallieri Hyeanum) c? , which has been 

 described under nearly forty different names. We cannot give the whole 

 range of variation, but ma}^ mention the differences seen in the six varieties 

 figured by M. Goossens {Diet. Ic. Orch., Paph. hyb.). P. X aureum (t. 24) 

 has the petals, lip and the lower half of the dorsal sepal greenish yellow, 



