Preface, 
existing Orchid hybrids of artificial origin, arranged on a uniform 
system, so as to show at a glance the crosses that have already been 
made, the adopted name of the hybrids, the works in which they have been 
described and figured, the original raiser or exhibitor, and the date of first 
_ flowering—in short it is intended as a guide to the already vast literature of 
the subject, and a standard of nomenclature. No apology is necessary for 
its production—a glance at the synonymy of some of the more popular 
hybrids enumerated should convince anyone of the need of such a 
Text Book. 
Many difficulties have been met with during its execution. These have 
partly arisen through the same hybrid having been raised independently in 
different collections, but chiefly through want of a uniform system. Some 
raisers have considered all the seedlings from the same cross as forms of one, 
while others have given distinct names to different seedlings out of the same 
seed-pod. Some hybrids have received Latin or classical names, in accord- 
ance with the rules of binomial nomenclature, or have been distinguished by 
the joint names of the two parents, while others have been named in the 
vernacular. A few have been recorded without names. In addition to this 
there are many hybrids whose parentage has been lost, or whose records are 
Stray seedlings, loss or absence 
[ve object of the present work is to provide an authentic list of 
incomplete, contradictory, or erroneous. 
of record of parentage, change of ownership of unflowered seedlings, the 
contemporaneous flowering of the same hybrid in different collections, and 
the naming of hybrids without reference to the work of earlier operators, 
have all contributed their quota to the confusion arising from the 
multiplicity of systems of nomenclature, and the result may be seen in the 
following pages. The object of the work is to provide a remedy for this 
confusion, so far as possible, and we may now proceed to describe the 
plan of the work. 
The work is divided into two parts :— . . 
Part I. contains <n enumeration of the species and hybrids which have 
these being arranged in alphabetical sequence, 
1, 
been used as parents, 
