176 THE ORCHID REVIEW. (JUNE, 1923. 
-spotted were of considerable rarity. It is somewhat strange why the petals 
should have been so seldom spotted when the labellum, or third segment of 
the same whorl, was rarely seen without these colour markings. No reason 
appears to have been suggested for the different amounts of spotting seen 
-on the various segments of the same flower, although we now realise that 
these blotched crispums were not themselves pure crispums, but the result 
of intercrossing with allied species. Now that Odontoglossums are raised 
artificially in large numbers, and from carefully selected varieties of the 
highest grade, present-day results almost all show a considerable amount of 
blotching on the petals. However, when these fine results are critically 
examined it will generally be found that it is the labellum in which the chief 
determining points of the plant’s parentage-are preserved. 
Odontoglossum Pescatorei is one of the nearest relations of O. crispum, 
-and although the branching habit of the spike is usually alone sufficient to 
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ODONTOGLOSSUM PESCATOREI. 
distinguish it, the flowers give other points, an important one being the 
panduriform, or fiddle-shaped labellum, and another the broad, wing-like 
crest at the base of this segment. In the side view of the labellum, an 
apiculus, or spur-like point, marked A, is strong evidence of O. Pescatorei. 
O. ardentissimum, one of our most popular hybrids, has been produced by 
crossing crispum with Pescatorei, and in it the various specific points of 
both parents can be traced. 
In other species the labellum is much elongated, a well-known example 
being O. gloriosum which, with O. crispum, is a parent of the naturally 
produced hybrid called Andersonianum. To the amateur, these flowers 
with narrow segments are often very attractive, and their “ starry’ nature 
leads the beginner to select them for his collection on account of their truly 
decorative qualities. But as he advances in his study of the exhibition 
type of flower he learns that it is those with well developed broad segments 
