NOMENCLATURE 35 



Serapias neglecta found by us near Pisa had the narrow curly leaves of the Serapias 

 parent, and another the broader flat leaves of an Orchis. On the Lago di Como the 

 form of Orchis mascula prevalent there has innumerable short red lines on the leaves, 

 and the yellow-flowered Orchis provincialis small rounded blackish spots. In a hybrid 

 found there between them both kinds of markings were present on the same leaf. 



The irregular manner in which the characters of the parents may be combined is seen 

 in Text-fig. I o (p . 1 2 8), showing three different types of Caloglossum viride x Gymnadenia 

 conopsea. The lip of A is near that of G. conopsea, that of 5 near C. viride, while that 

 of C is between the two. A has the long slender spur of G. conopsea, that of J3 is 

 much shorter, but as thick as and longer than that of C. viride, while that of C is 

 very near the spur of the latter, and from some flowers absent altogether. All the 

 single flowers are considerably enlarged. 



delation of variation to hybridisation. It is found that, in cultivation, crossing acts 

 as a strong stimulus to variation. It assembles in the ofl"spring a number of different, 

 sometimes conflicting characters, in a state of more or less unstable equilibrium, even 

 seeds from the same capsule varying considerably. This tendency to variation is a 

 marked feature of hybrids, so that when some exceptionally fine hybrid orchid has 

 been produced, it usually becomes necessary to perpetuate it by vegetative processes.^ 

 Fertilisation of a hybrid by its 01m pollen. If a primary hybrid is artificially fertilised 

 with its own pollen, partial reversion to one or other parent may occur, as in the 

 case oiEpidendrum Kewense (£. evectum x £. xanthinum), of which one seedling strongly 

 resembled £. Kewense, another showed partial reversion towards the purple £. evectum, 

 and a third towards the yellow JS. xanthinum.'^ This seems to indicate a tendency 

 to reversion, even if seeds are produced by self-pollination. 3 



VII. NOMENCLATURE 



I have given reasons for the employment of any names which are open to con- 

 troversy. The Rules adopted by the International Botanical Congress at Vienna 

 in 1905 form on the whole an admirable code of regulations. It is doubtful, 

 however, whether Art. 15, placing every name, however widely accepted, at the 

 mercy of anyone who can find an older one even though still-born, has not been a 

 direct temptation to replace living names by dead synonyms. 



The Rules have now been over 25 years in force. So far as orchids are concerned, 



» Rolfe, O.K. p. 104 (1912). » o.K, p. izy (1909). 



3 In the case of two or three wild hybrids I have observed that after a few years' cultivation the 

 characters of one of the parents become less and less marked. 



5-2 



