THE ORCHID REVIEW. 
VoL. VIII.}j MAY, 1g00. [No. 89. 
DIES ORCHIDIANZ. 
THE most interesting document which has come into my hands during the 
past month is the Hybrid Conference Report, just issued by the Royal 
Horticultural Society, and which contains a full account of the proceedings 
and exhibits at the Conference, and also the full text of the papers read 
and contributed. None of the papers are devoted exclusively to Orchids, 
i _ but in two of them they figure largely, and there are many other allusions 
_tothem. Taking the report seriatim, I notice a good many experiments in 
the Orchid family alluded to by Professor Henslow in his paper on 
“Hybridisation and its failures.” Mr. Hurst, in “ Notes on some experi- 
“ments in hybridisation and cross-breeding,” has collected and summarized 
a large number of records, and his paper is illustrated with a number of 
excellent figures. Numerous important facts, many of which have already 
been recorded, are discussed, and the whole paper is deserving of careful 
study. 
“Hybridisation viewed from the standpoint of systematic Botany,” is 
the subject chosen by Mr. Rolfe, and records of a large number of wild 
hybrids which have also been raised artificially are collected together. 
_ Many familes besides Orchids are included, and of the latter no less than 
_ seventeen examples are given, six of which are figured, in two cases with 
both their parents. It appears that many botanists are still sceptical about 
the occurrence of hybrids in Nature, but Mr. Rolfe’s paper should convert 
them, for not only does he show that natural hybrids are comparatively 
common in certain groups, but that they are frequently described as species, 
because their hybrid origin is unknown. The paper will doubtless be read 
with interest by both hybridists and botanists. 
Speaking of this paper reminds me of a comment which I saw in the 
Journal of Horticulture at the time of the Conference (1899, XXxiX, p- 50) = 
‘So many allusions had been made to the trouble caused to the systematic — 
