96 GENERAL REVIEW OF THE ORCHIDE.^^. 



iiparly mH the otlioi species of Cattleya luid witli must of the Brazilian 

 Lgelias, with the ahnost universal result that the flowers of the progenies 

 have deviated but little from the lahiata type, but their colours are 

 often much luoditied l)y the otlier parent. 



Many instances can be cited in which the pollen parent has greatly 

 influenced the characters of the flower, and the seed parent the i 

 vegetative organs of the progeny. On the other hand the opposite ' 

 has occurred, so that it is at present impossible to deduce any general 

 law respecting the relative potency as regards sex of the parents of 

 those hybrids which diverge from the precise intermediate form. 



The reverse cross of any two species does not always produce identical 

 forms with the first cross, altliough generally sufficiently near to be I 

 ranked as varieties only. There are, however, some very remarkable i 

 exceptions. Cyprlpedi'im x Aphrodite raised by us from G. Laivrence- i 

 anum ^ and C. nimum $ is very distinct in form and colour from 

 C. X Antigonp raised from the reverse cross of the same pair of ! 

 species. I 



When the minute structure of the tissues of hybrids and their j 

 parents are examined and compared, we learn from an exceedingly I 

 interesting- series of investigations undertaken by Dr. J. M. Macfarlane I 

 in the laboratory of the Edinburgh Boianic Garden, that from a ' 

 large number of liybrid plants together with their parents so examined | 

 and compared, the structural blending of the parents in the cells | 

 and cell contents in all the organs of the hybrid is nearly equal, , 

 The blending of the appearances presented by the parents is seen i 

 in a remarkable manner in all the minute anatomical details, in the ! 

 size, outline, amount of thickening and localisation of growth of the 

 cell-wall, in the structure of the epidermal out-growths, hairs, papillae, 

 etc., and also in the number of the stomata of the leaves. In the 

 hybrids all these are as a rule, so far as the investigations have 

 been carried, intermediate between those of the parents.* \ 



The hybrid orchids examined Ijy Dr. Macfarlane were, up to date 

 of publication, confined to two raised by ourselves, viz., Cypripeduim x 

 Leeanuni and Masdevallia x Chehoni. An instructive instance is ! 

 aff'orded by the flower of the last-named hybrid of the perfect structural I 

 blending of the two parents in the hybrid. Masdevallia x Chelsoni 

 was raised from M. amahilis and M. VeitcJiiana, the cross being effected 

 both ways and progenies obtained from both crosses. The brilliant 

 coloration of the flowers of both the hybrid and its parents is, in part, ' 

 owing to the crimson papillae which are scattered in great numbers 



* Ganl. Chron. VII. s. 3 (1890), p. 543. and iu Transactions of the Uoyal Society of I 



Edinburgh, voL XXXVII. p. 203. j 



