HYBRIDIZATION OF ORCHIDS. 119 



ture in vegetation ; as is O. maculata in a lesser degree 

 in open woodlands. Most of the other species, though 

 not deserving to be called rare, are sparingly distributed ; 

 yet if their seeds or seedlings were not largely and habit- 

 ually destroyed, any one of them would, as we have just 

 seen, immediately cover the whole land." 



Any of us who has received Orchids collected on their 

 native habitats will have noticed the remains of old seed- 

 pods, and thus we must conclude that in their wild state 

 tropical Orchids seed profusely. 



The varieties obtained by collectors lead us to believe 

 that hybridization is often effected by insect agency, and 

 that many of the plants we receive are natural hybrids. 

 This has been strikingly shown in the flowering of a large 

 lot of imported Phaltznopses in England recently, in which 

 the three species, aurea grandiflora, amabilis, and Schiller- 

 iana seem to be strangely mixed up. 



In artificial hybridization, care should be taken to cross 

 those species which, for beauty or novelty of flower, would 

 be likely to give the best results. Although by seedlings 

 from one species we may chance to get variations, yet the 

 chance is rendered almost a certainty if we choose dif- 

 ferent species. 



Seedlings may wholly resemble one parent, may have 

 points common to both, or may be exactly intermediate. 

 Cypripedium Harrisianum, a cross between C. villosum 

 and barbatum, has the long 'foliage of the former, but 

 spotted like the latter ; in fact, both in foliage and flower, 

 is almost exactly intermediate. Calanthe Veitchii, a hybrid 

 between Calanthe vestita and Limatodes rosea, shows marks 

 of each parent, but is superior to both in every good 

 quality. 



