“136 THE ORCHID REVIEW. [May, 1915, 
Witt was a singularly gifted man, of great attainments, artistic and 
-literary, of large sympathies and wide interests, far removed indeed in 
mental habit and outlook from what is usually regarded as the typical 
“German professor. He had an extensive knowledge of what is best in the — 
-literature of nearly every European nation, to which his remarkable 
linguistic attainments gave him ready access. In early life he was attracted 
“to biological problems, was an excellent microscopist, and rivalled Cleve in 
studying and delineating the lower forms of organic life. In his later years — 
he was devoted to the culture of Orchids, and was an occasional visitor to 
“the Temple Show of our Royal Horticultural Society, and a frequent 
~purchaser at the plant auctions in London. 
It was/in this connection that our acquaintance with him was made, 
partly by correspondence, and partly by a personal visit during one of ‘his 
“trips to London. He wasan active member of the German Orchid Society, 
‘and joint editor of its official organ, Orchis, from 1909 to 1911, and 
afterwards a member of the Committee. He was the author of numerous 
important papers in Orchis, and it may be added that the figure of 
‘Paphiopedilum Veuus given at page 145 of our seventeenth vor was 
oe a photograph of a plant in his collection. , 
BEES FERTILISING CATTLEYAS.—Bees, we know, are not generally 
“welcomed in Orchid houses, and Mr. Knudsen, of Boulder, Colorado, who 
‘has been very successful in growing Cattleya Mossiz, found on one 
‘occasion that the flowers were being fertilised, and subsequent observation 
‘proved that this was done by a humble bee; Bombus Huntii, which’ gained 
‘access to the greenhouse. The case is recorded by Mr. T. D. A. Cockerell 
(Coult. Bot. Gaz., lix. p. 330), to whom one of the bees was’ sent with 
several pollinia attached to the mesothorax. Mr. Cockerell remarks: “* The 
case is interesting, since this bee has had, of course, no'previous ase 
with Cattleya or with any closely related plant.” 
We believe that all Cattleyas are fertilised in a wild state by bees. A 
‘gtaphic account was sent to us a few years ago of the fertilisation of 
Cattleya intermedia in South Brazil by Mr. J. J. Keevil (O.R., xviii. p- 29): 
‘The insect resembles an English Humble Bee, but is of treble the size. 
‘Alighting on the front lobe, the insect’s weight depresses the lip from the 
‘column, allowing the bee to find its way to the nectary. On emerging 
backwards the pollinia are seen fixed on the back of its neck, to be 
-deposited on the stigma of the next flower visited. This bee is the active 
agent in the production of the natural hybrids, Leliocattleya elegans and 
“Schilleriana, and we suspect it to be the widely diffused American bee, 
‘Eulema cayennensis, of which we once received a — from Mr. 
Rand, of Para. 
