THE ORCHID REVIEW. 5 
ALFRED OuTRAM.—The Orchid Committee of the Royal Horticultural 
Society has also lost another of its members since our last issue. Mr. 
_ Alfred Outram, who died at his residence, in Moore Park Road, S.W., on 
Friday, December 8th, was a well-known and much respected figure in 
the horticultural world. He was born at Tooting in 1847, and commenced 
his career in the famous nursery of Messrs. Rollisson, passing on to 
Mr. William Cole’s nursery, near Manchester, from which he was trans- 
ferred to Manley Hall, the property of Sam Mendel, Esq., who was the 
possessor of one of the celebrated Orchid collections of the period, and 
whose name is commemorated in Cattleya Mendelii. From here he passed 
to the establishment of Messrs. James Veitch & Sons, then to the late Mr. 
'B. S. Williams, for whom he acted as traveller for twenty-three years, and 
afterwards to Messrs. Sutton & Sons. He was a warm supporter of the 
gardening charities, and a frequent contributor to the press. Though he 
had been in failing health for some time the end came with painful sudden- 
ness. The deceased was in the 53rd year of his age. 
PAPHIOPEDILUM FAIRRIEANUM AND ITS HYBRIDS. 
Is there a more mysterious Orchid in cultivation than Paphiopedilum 
Fairrieanum? Introduced over forty years ago, and always highly prized, 
it seems to be rarer to-day than formerly, and there are Orchidists of 
considerable experience to whom it is known chiefly by repute, and by the 
published figures. In 1895, Mr. Woodall omitted it from his “Ideal 
Cypripedium list ” because he had ‘‘ never seen it in flower,”’ though he had 
been shown small plants of it (ante, iii., p. 356). Yet its hybrids are found 
in almost every collection. And although it was originally recorded as 
having been sent from Assam, no one has yet succeeded in re-descovering it, 
though it has long been searched for, and the sum of £1,000 has been 
offered for an importation of it. 
It was described by Dr. Lindley, in October, 1857, as Cypripedium 
Fairrieanum (Gard. Chron., 1857, p. 740), from a plant which had been 
exhibited at a recent meeting of the Horticultural Society by Mr. Fairrie, 
of Aigburth, Liverpool, to whom it was dedicated. In the December 
following it was figured in the Botanical Magazine (t. 5024), from materials 
sent to Sir William Hooker by Mr. Myland, gardener to Mr. Reid, of 
Burnham, Somerset, and from a plant sent from the nursery of Mr. Parker, 
of Holloway. All these plants are believed to have been obtained at a sale 
held at Stevens’ Rooms of some Orchids that had been sent from Assam, 
and this is partially confirmed by the fact that a Captain Tronson, who was 
on military service in Assam, sent some plants to the Royal Botanic Garden, 
Calcutta, which flowered there in 1861. M. Van Houtte, however, states 
