FEBRUARY, 1917] THE ORCHID REVIEW. 39 
majus feiched 13 gs.; for Aérides affine superbum {11 was obtained, and 
for Cypripedium barbatum superbiens, £10. The whole sale, which 
consisted of some 320 lots, realised £821. Among recently imported 
Orchids £416 was obtained for some 237 lots, among which the highest 
price realised was 10 gs. for Barkeria spectabilis, a fine mass on native 
wood, associated with E pidendrum and Tillandsia. Other examples, how- 
ever, only fetched about £1 per lot, and many lots of other kinds of Orchids 
only fetched from 6s. to Ios. each. Saccolabium giganteum realised 
£5 15s., and the beautiful Dendrobium Maccarthie £4 5s.; Vanda 
Bensonii realising about the same amount. 
Another matter of interest was a long paper on the Fecundation of 
Orchids, by C.S.P.P. (the Rev. C. S. P. Parish), Moulmein, in which it 
was remarked that in England our tropical Orchids seldom, if ever, bear 
fruit, but that in a state of nature certain species, especially belonging to 
the Vandee, bore fruit abundantly, though there were others which fruited 
less frequently than might be supposed. He then gave a variety of details, 
which must have been specially interesting at a time when experiments 
in Orchid hybridisation were just engaging general attention. 
We find, also, an account, by our old friend, J. B. (James Bateman), 
Biddulph Grange, of a new Orchid pest, ‘‘ about twice as large as a full- 
grown aphis, and very lively,” of which information was desired, though we 
have not discovered whether it was ever forthcoming. 
AUSTRALIAN OrRCHIDs.—At a meeting of the Field Naturalists’ Club of 
Victoria, held in October last, Mr. E. E. Prescott, F.L.S., and Mr. C. 
French exhibited thirteen varieties of the common Spider Orchid, Caladenia 
Patersonil, R.Br., which showed a remarkable variation in colour, form, 
and stature. The colours ranged from white, pink, and red to green and 
brown. The form variation showed extreme difference in both width and 
length of the petals and sepals, whilst the height of the plants ranged from 
three to fifteen inches. At the same time, the true distinction of the 
species, the six rows of calli on the labellum, was constant throughout. 
Mr. Percy Sharman, B.Sc., read a paper on ‘‘ The Structure of Some 
Australian Orchids,” and, by means of blackboard sketches, drawings, and 
microscopic sections, illustrated the internal structure of several common 
species of Pterostylis, an Australian genus known as the ‘‘ Greenhoods.”” The 
lecturer pointed out some interesting details of structure, and expressed the 
opinion that certain species united by Bentham were distinct, though it is 
difficult “‘to draw quite hard and fast rules, since evolution is still taking 
place in the genus.” He alsoalluded to the absence of stomata in the galea 
of the flower, a peculiarity, it was believed, not noted in Orchid literature. 
—Victorian Naturalist. 
