ORCHIDS AND HYBRIDIZING. 213 
lies open to irresponsible persons like myself. 
When Cattleya has been allied with Sophronitis, 
Sophronitis with Epidendrum, Odontoglossum 
with Zygopetalum, Ccelogene with Calanthe, 
one may credit almost anything. What should 
be stated on the other side will appear pre- 
sently. 
How many hybrids have we now, established, 
and passing from hand to hand as freely as natural 
species? There is no convenient record ; but in 
the trade .list of a French dealer those he is pre- 
pared to supply are set apart with Gallic precision. 
They number 416; but imagination and com- 
mercial enterprise are not less characteristic of 
the Gaul than precision. 
In the excellent “ Manual” of Messrs. Veitch, 
which has supplied me with a mass of details, I 
find ten hybrid Calanthes; thirteen hybrid Cattleyas, 
and fifteen Leelias, besides sixteen “natural hybrids” 
—species thus classed upon internal evidence— 
and the wondrous Sophro-Cattleya, bi-generic ; 
fourteen Dendrobiums and one natural; eighty- 
seven Cypripediums—but as for the number in 
existence, it is so great, and it increases so fast, 
that Messrs. Veitch have lost count; Phajus one, 
but several from alliance with Calanthe ; Chysis 
two; Epidendrum one; Miltonia one, and two 
