me 
Joxz 29, 1895.] 
THE GARDENERS’ 
CHRONICLE. 
791 
of C. bellatulum attached to the roots, and the 
same thing with C. Charlesworthii. 
The places where C. Charlesworthii grows, are, as 
a Ls far removed from villages; indeed, the whole 
try is very sparsely populated. It is the home 
e po tiger, tha bear, wild boar, leopard (cheetah), 
and of huge snakes, and, in 
first collected it in quantity, I had thousands of 
flowers, and some of them were of great size. I 
little dreamt at the time that it would be found so 
hg distributed, and I did not then know that it 
was chid, 1 e in England at the 
season as it doe ma. 
Dendrobium dae was 
Mr. Hildebrand, Superint a en, 0 
States, and some plants were t to Messrs, Hugh 
Low & Co. Afterwards, k men came across it, 
and, without knowing what it was, I sent some to 
Messrs. Charlesworth, who identified it, and sold 
first discovered by 
f the S. Shan 
Cymbidium Lowianum grows about 20 miles 
east of Fort Stedman, but not plentifully, and there 
are quite a number of pretty little Orchids of bota- 
nical interest, some of which I am trying to flower 
in England. R. Moore, late Assist. Sup. S. 
Shan States. In Orchid Re 
DISA LONGICORNU. 
ED by Linnzus of younger in 1781, and 
since that time frequentl d on in terms o 
y remarke 
admiration by n commencing zita dbus: 
mage NN S 5 oe 
(which is upposed to be i ce bole habitat) in 1778. 
Disa 1 has been — imported, or 
Lawrence, Bart., Burford, Dorking, obtained some of 
the small tubers of the true plant, and after careful 
nursing it remained to him to be the first to exhibit, 
if not to flower, this singular plant in cultivation, the 
plant from which our illustration (fig. 121) was taken 
ing awarded a Botanical Certificate at the meeting 
of the Orchid committee of the Royal Horticultural 
isa longico gs to the section Eudisa, 
which ae — favourite D. uniflora, or, as it is 
monly known in gardens, D. grandiflora ; 
ee. ee it will ultimately prove as 
altitude from 2100 to eet, wh 
growing among moss and grasses in the clefts of the 
rocks, on the shady side, and where water drips in 
its growing season. 
A THEORY, OF MULTIPLE 
PARENTAGE IN FERNS, 
Tue very remarkable results of mixed sowings of 
Fern spores of different variatie shown Mr. 
i subsequent Fern 
Exhibitions held under the oenas of the Royal 
Horticultaral Society, and detailed in his ea 
published volume on Fern Growing, 
decided y to the possibility of a single a eee, 
being fertilised by antherozoids of diverse origin, 
that the r of the archegoniam being only 
Susceptible of monogamic fertilisation is, to say the 
least of it, assailed, In deference, pre- 
madly, to this belief held by most biologists, Mr. 
A +1 re 8 1 h 
on one and the same prothallus may be inde- 
pendently fertilised each by a 
ive om an 
ral 
that eventually, when one of the 
vives in the struggle for existence (due to the fact 
that one prothallus is cca pt only able to mature 
one plant), this survivor is enabled to display the 
combined characters of all ‘he varieties with which 
the prothallus has been impregnated. In other 
words, the eee of 2 9 ova find 
their way to the ped one; — with 
them, of course, all their varietal potencies 
That the influence of the — is not always 
i eee <li E po es, a 
FIG. 121,.—DISA LONGICORNU : FLOWERS PALE BLUE, 
— 
confined to the fertilised ovum and its resulting 
form of organic life, finds practical evidence in the 
care which breeders of horses, and other 
Saaai find it needful to take in the selection of 
aen sires, it being a well-known fact that 
= inferior cross is always liable to show its effects 
n subsequent independent ones, and er during 
iod of the other snd 
1 a 
influence, as well as the system of the offspring. 
3 the appearance in any degree of the characters 
of sire No. 1 in the progeny of sire No: 2 only diffars 
from Mr, Lowe’s theory in the matter of time, a 
factor in his favour, since with Ferns the ~~ 
paternal influences are at work or quite, 
simultaneously. Graft hybrids show, though in a 
less degree, a similar power of assimilation; and, 
considering that the sap-eirculation between scion 
and stock-roots is siagle and common, the wonder 
seems to ba, not that the varietal effects of the scion 
now and sgain—but only rarely—made eyident, 
but that this is not invariably the case, 
‘healthy specimen of V. 
perfect pods 
these remarks it will be seen that I am not 
prepared to challenge in any way the theory which 
Mr. Lowe advances, and which indeed may account 
normous numb 
and by virtue of this capacity reach the archegonia, 
and fertilise them. The archegonia, ee, me 
being usually clustered together at one 
comparatively few in number, — astuming the 
adequacy of one antherozoid to fertilise each single 
ovum the archegonium contains, it is clear that an 
enormous percentage of these fertilising cella fail 
to fulfil their proper destiny. l 
theory is this, granting that by means of 
in 
seems to me quite 
solution of form m 
ane fertilisation might result therefrom, 
ual contact with any individual anthero- 
zoid, and the resulting offspring show multiple 
acters in endless grades, precisely as do Mr. 
Lowe’ s specimens, The cases cited by Mr. Lowe of 
ly, without 
a single true parental form appearin g. 
indubitably some such easily-imparted influence, 
since the antherozoids have, by their mere propin- 
quity, best chance o j 
of same hence a certain 
of true plants ikoni be e = 
actual contact of foreign antherozoids were a 
gud non. Under the theory suggested, a tingle 
ingat the right time might im every 
erchegoniom | in the pan with different proportional 
, and just such a mixed lot would 
Mag the — as is 
F. L. S. 
ORCHID NOTES AND GLEANINGS, 
VANILLA AROMATICA. 
Ir pleased to inform you that we have a small 
illa aromatica with over 
upon it. ave been trying for 
several years to succeed in obtaining such a result. 
W. H. White, Burford 
Orcuips ar McArruur’s Nursery. 
In these old-established nurseries in the Maida 
Vale, London, Orchids have of lato: tia upa a great 
art of th 
of the houses there is always a pretty show, Inor one 
pans the lobbies at the present time is a pretty group 
i 0 
oss um crispum eya 
— and Lelia tenebrosa, among the last-named 
ng three very distinct and pie wiles The 
one has dark reddish-bronzs sepals an , and 
rose-coloured lip, of which the tube is ae parple; 
er has greenish-yellow sepals and petals, 
veined with light purple, and dark Jabellum; and 
» Angr 
arthiæ, D. Dalhous rys- 
' — D, Parishii, Cypripedin m = dieting C, 
