THE ORCHID REVIEW. ae 
required. Ultimately a scape was produced, and the first flower unfolded 
its petals—just an ordinary Harrisianum, not one whit better than might 
have been obtained at any of the nurseries, but how vastly more interesting 
to the raiser who has tended it and watched its progress with so much 
solicitude ! 
Hybridising and raising seedlings is very interesting work. There is 
now quite a large batch of seedlings in various stages, some of them in 
pots of almost microscopic dimensions, some of them ‘‘ bedded out” by 
the dozen or so in baskets of moss, which are suspended from the rafters 
of the house so as to get the best light possible, and others standing in 
rows on the stages, each one on an inverted flower-pot, with here and there 
healthy little succulent roots growing over the edges, and looking pictures 
of health. On some of the Cattleyas hang great fat capsules, apparently 
containing seeds enough to fill the whole house, though in the end it is rare 
to find too many plants in any batch of seedlings. Cypripediums and 
Dendrobiums also carry promising seed-pods, each with its little ticket 
giving the records, and a few withered flowers here and there, similarly 
labelled, tell their own tale. Occasionally I look in and give the Doctor a 
hand with some of his operations, and on a future occasion may be able to 
go into a few more details on the subject. is 
(To be continued.) 
DISEASES OF ORCHIDS. 
C#OMA ORCHIDIS. 
WE have received from the collection of R. Menzies, Esq., Viewfield, 
Whitburn, N.B., some leaves of Epidendrum vitellinum which bear on the 
under surface a fungus, consisting of a number of minute, orange-coloured 
globules, forming in the aggregate rust-like patches, and discolouring and 
ultimately destroying the tissue on which it grows. Mr. Menzies remarks 
that he has shown it to several growers, none of whom have seen it before, 
and that in his own collection it has only been observed on this particular 
species of Orchid. It is a fungus known as Czoma orchidis, a member of 
the Uredo group, and is a native of Europe, including Britain, and occurs 
wild on Orchis maculata, O. latifolia, O. militaris, O. sambucina, 
Gymnadenia conopsea, Listera ovata, and probably on other Orchids. Of 
late years it has been observed in collections on Phaius, Satyrium, Cattleya, 
and probably others. Its life history and distribution are imperfectly 
known at present, but it seems probable that, like many others, it goes 
through an alternating phase of existence on some other plant, as in the 
case of the wheat rust, Puccinia graminis, which goes through what is 
