juty-AucusT, 1919.] THE ORCHID REVIEW. 103 
would work satisfactorily. To give an example: Cochlioda Noetzliana 
crossed with Odontoglossum crispum gave Odontioda Bradshawiz, which 
has been recrossed with both the original parents, that with the Cochlioda 
being called Odontioda Elsie, and that with the Odontoglossum Odontioda 
Schreederi. The alternative plan would be to class both the secondary 
hybrids under Odontioda Bradshawie, which we think would not be at all 
satisfactory. Had they all been natural hybrids the absence of records 
might have made such a course inevitable, unless indeed O. Bradshawize 
had been described as a species, which is highly probable, for a good many 
natural hybrids have shared this fate. 
Among natural hybrids that have been recognised at the outset the 
alternative plan has doubtless been followed quite unconsciously, for their 
recognition as hybrids depended entirely upon the detection of characters 
derived from two distinct species. Odontoglossum Andersonianum was 
described as a natural hybrid between O. crispum and O. gloriosum because 
it combined the characters of these two quite distinct species. In course 
of time many other plants were recognised as containing the same combina- 
tion of characters, and some of them received distinct names, but ultimately 
came to be classed under the same name, though the series doubtless con- , 
tains recrosses with both the original species. In course of time the cross 
between O. Andersonianum and O. crispum was raised, and received the 
name of O. Stewartianum, and there are doubtless a good many wild forms 
of the same to be recognised. But who will recross O. Andersonianum with 
0. gloriosum to show us what the other secondary hybrid is like ? 
It is probable that the plant which Reichenbach called Odontoglossum 
hebraicum belongs here, for the narrow, light yellow segments and numer- 
Ous small brown spots and lines are just what one would expect, but this 
plant was included as a variety of O. lanceans when Reichenbach collected 
_ the numerous hybrids from O. gloriosum and QO. crispum under a single 
fame. The name Odontoglossum glorioso-crispum was suggested by the 
“Writer as a natural method of keeping together forms having the same 
Specific composition, but it implied nothing else, for it was remarked that 
Some of the forms were probably secondary hybrids and polymorphisms 
_ Produced by agencies that have been in operation for ages past. The whole 
' Problem is full of difficulty, and similar complications are already apparent 
among garden hybrids that have only been the subject of experiment for a 
few generations, 
Hybridisation in nature is necessarily limited to the species which 
ied about by insects, and 
happen to grow together, The pollen is carr 
