258 THE ORCHID REVIEW. 
injurious to the shoot than cutting it right off, but one would like to 
feel sure that it is effective. When the larva is entirely surrounded by the 
tissues of the plant, without access to the outside air, the presence of an 
additional layer of chopped moss can hardly make much difference on the 
score of ventilation. If the plants were imported just before the fly escaped, 
and it emerged to find itself shut up in a dark case for a few weeks, the 
result might well be disastrous to the insect, but I only offer the suggestion 
for what it is worth. 
One of these days, perhaps, someone will send a photograph of the 
Cattleya disease, or rather of the fungus which produces it—if there is one, 
for the point does not yet seem to be fully determined. Some growers in- 
cline to the belief that it is entirely due toimproper culture, bad ventilation, 
break mentioned on P- 240 seems equally mysterious in its origin. We find 
a plant of Cattleya x Mantinii, healthy and vigorous, apparently under 
correct treatment, with both its parents thriving in the same house, no drip 
or moisture near it ; and yet for two successive years, as soon as the new 
bulb has finished flowering, the Previous year’s bulb commences to decay 
And yet no one seems able to discover the cause. There must be one, and 
I hope that the matter will be followed up until the mystery is solved. 
Here is a cutting from a recent issue of Indian Gardening, which seems 
to have a direct bearing on the case :— 
“THE PLant Doctor.—This personage is now an established institu- 
tion in England and other countries. Thus the Gardeners’ Chronicle: The 
Royal Horticultural Society seems rolling in wealth, or very anxious to 
spend what it has—a correspondent says he knows an opening, viz., to pro- 
vide the sinews for war to some plant-disease man, and send him to see on 
Society, or someone, should give an adequate salary toa competent plant- 
doctor, whose whole time should be devoted to the work. We are only 
editors, and have no time for the necessary research and cultivation, but 
we are swamped with inquiries and specimens.” 
The suggestion is not half a bad one, but who will take the initiative in 
the matter ? : 
