THE ORCHID REVIEW. 13 



Calanthe X Veitchii and Paphiopedilum X Leeanum or P. X Latham- 

 ianum as suitable subjects. These should be carefully self-fertilized, and all 

 the resulting seedlings taken care of until they flowered. Those who 

 see a possibility of practical results in the way of reversion might choose 

 the hybrids of P. Fairrieanum for experiment. For ourselves we may add 

 that certain hybrids reproduce themselves perfectly true from seed, and we 

 do not see what possible place the Mendelian law provides for such plants. 

 A law should be capable of general application, and we should much prefer 

 to say in Mendel's own words : — " Even the validity of the law formulated 

 for Pisum requires still to be confirmed, and a repetition of the more import- 

 ant experiments is consequently much to be desired." 



At the meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society's Orchid Committee 

 held on November 28th last the following communication upon the applica- 

 tion of Mendel's law to intermediate hybrid characters from Captain C. C. 

 Hurst was read :— 



Mendel's Law.—" Mendel's law of the dissociation of hybrid charac- 

 ters according to the simple formula A + 2 An + Aa was enunciated in 1865, 

 but it was not until a short time ago that the law was confirmed and re- 

 established by the experiments and researches of Prof. Hugo de Vries, 

 Correns, Tschermal, and Webber. In addition to the above, we have been 

 favoured with an admirable translation and exposition of Mendel's work in 

 the Journal of the Society by Mr. W. Bateson, f.r.s. Hitherto Mendel's 

 law seems to have been applied to ' discontinuous ' hybrids only, and not at 

 all to the more numerous class known as ' intermediate ' hybrids. Having 

 for some years past made a special study of Orchid hybrids (which belong 

 for the most part to the 'intermediate' class), I thought that it might 

 perhaps be of some interest to ascertain whether Mendel's law held good in 

 regard to them. A careful analysis of the inheritance of 3,500 pairs of 

 specific characters was therefore made in the following genera, viz., Cattleya, 

 Ladia, Lselio-cattleya, Cymbidium, Dendrobium, Odontoglossum, Miltonia, 

 Sobralia, Zygopetalum, Paphiopedilum (Cypripedium), Phragmipedilum 

 (Selenipedium). These experiments show that, with certain modifications, 

 Mendel's law appears to hold good for 'intermediate' hybrid characters, as 

 well as for discontinuous ones, with the further advantage that the law can 

 be applied to primary hybrids as well as to secondary ones, and to cross 

 breeding generally, as well as to in-breeding by self-fertilization. I hope 

 to publish a detailed account of these observations (with your kind per- 

 mission) in the Journal of the Society at an early date. Sheuld these results 

 be confirmed, the present scope and value of Mendel's law will be consider- 

 ably extended, and we shall be getting a little nearer towards the solution 

 of the problems of heredity." 



