HISTORY OF ORCHID HY lUUDtSATtON 



Mr. W. Swan, gardener to W. Leech, Esq., Oakley, Fallowfield, 

 Manchester, made his debut with a hybrid between Cypripedium Dayanum 

 $ and C. barbatum $ , which was named C. X Swanianum by Reichan- 

 bach, in lionour of the raiser. 



Later in the }ear Messrs. RoUisson & Sons, of Tooting, flowered a 

 hybrid which was said to have been raised by Mr. Mylam, from Cattleya 

 granulosa crossed with the pollen of Laelia crispa, and was named Laslia X 

 Mylamiana. It is said to have been raised in 1863, and is now known as 

 Lteliocattleya X Mylamiana. 



The following year revealed the existence of another recruit, when 

 Zygopetalum X Clayi flowered in the collection of Colonel Clay, of 

 Birkenhead. Its parents were Z. crinitum and Z. maxillare, and it 

 received a First-Class Certificate from the Manchester Botanical and 

 Horticultural Society in April, 1877. 



The event of 1878 was the flowering of a very handsome hybrid from 

 Cattleya Dowiana, which was described under the name of Lgelia X 

 Dominiana. The second parent was said to be "some L?elia, probably 

 elegans," but long afterwards it was proved by the repetition of the cross 

 to be L. purpurata. It was the last of Mr. Dominy's hybrids, and a fitting 

 climax to his labours, for if depth and richness of colouring be the 

 criterion of excellence it is not only unrivalled among this raiser's produc- 

 tions, but is scarcely surpassed at the present day. It is now known as 

 Lseliocattleya X Dominiana. 



It is evident that some of Mr. Dominy's hybrids were not recorded 

 when they flowered for the first time, for Dendrobium X Dominyanum 

 (D. nobile 2 X Linawianum <? ), which was described in 1878, was said 

 to have been obtained by Mr. Dominy " a ver)' long time ago," and 

 although not recorded until four years after D. x Ainsworthii it was 

 evidently the first hybrid in the genus. Cattleya X felix also, described in 

 1876, was said to be one of the oldest seedlings raised by Mr. Dominy. Its 

 parents were Lselia crispa and Cattleya Schilleraiana, and it was after- 

 wards named Lseliocattleya X felix. Again, Cypripedium X calophyllum, 

 which was described in 1880, was said to be " one of the oldest artificial 

 hybrids, having been gained at the Royal Exotic Nursery a long time a^-o, " 

 It was a seedling from C. barbatum and C. venustum, and is now called 

 Paphiopedilum X calophyllum. 



As we have been unable to mention all Mr. Dominy's hybrids in- 

 dividually we may here remark that they number twenty-five, and comprise 

 six Cattleyas, one Laelia, six hybrids between the two genera, two 

 Calanthes, one hybrid between Calanthe and Phaius, three Cypripediums, 

 one Selenipedium, one Dendrobium, one Aerides (probably lost), and three 

 hybrids of the Anoectochilus group. They extended over a period of more 



