THE ORCHID REVIEW. 175 
rare in Europe, and whose very history has been confused. It was 
originally described and figured by Dr. Lindley in Paxton’s Flower Garden 
(I., p. 21, t. 6) in 1850, where we learn that ‘the accompanying drawing 
was made in September, 1847, from a plant in the possession of Messrs. 
Loddiges, and we believe it is found in their list under the provisional name 
of O. luridum purpuratum. They had imported it from New Grenada; but 
it does not occur among any dried collections which we have examined 
from that country.” Lindley remarked that this purple-lipped kind was 
one of the best, being inferior to none but O. Lanceanum. Afterwards 
(Fol. Orch., Oncid., p. 41) he observed :—“ Intermediate as it were between 
©. Lanceanum and luridum. Sepals and petals green, mottled with 
crimson. Lip crimson mottled with white. Pollen-masses and appen- 
~dages as in O. luridum.” In 1882 it was figured in the Orchid Album 
(t. 32), and although both figures are good ones they are remarkably 
dissimilar, the latter being more like O. luridum in shape, and having the 
margin of the lip yellow. The former shows a very perceptible approach 
to O. Lanceanum, both in shape and colour. The habitat has never 
been confirmed, and Messrs. Veitch (Man. Orch., vili., p. 41) remarked 
that, although since 1847 it had appeared at intervals in various collections 
in Great Britain, its habitat was virtually unknown. New Granada may 
now be dismissed as certainly erroneous. There is, however, another plant 
which is unquestionably a form of O. hematochilum, namely, that called 
O. luridum var. atratum by Lindley (Journ. Hort. Soc., vi. p. 54, with fig.), 
which flowered in the Horticultural Society’s: garden in 1851. It was 
described as a fine form of *O. luridum, in some respects like O. 
hzmatochilum, and had olive-coloured sepals and petals, and a rich 
crimson lip, furnished at the base with five purple-black tubercles. It was 
said to have been collected by Hartweg at Tampico, in Mexico, but here 
again some mistake seems to have been made. It may be described as a 
form of O. heematochilum with the shape of O. luridum, and almost the 
colour of O. Lanceanum. Looking at these facts in the new light thrown 
upon the subject by Mr. Potter, we think that the hybrid origin of 
Oncidium hzmatochilum is demonstrated, and that in future the name 
must be written with the sign of hybridity, thus O. X hematochilum. 
The cause both of its rarity and variability is now explained, and unless 
the two species also grow together in Guiana, it is probable that all the few 
known plants have come from the same district of Trinidad, together with 
one or the other of the parent species. We are very glad fo learn that an 
experiment has been made to prove the matter, and in view of the rarity 
and beauty of the plant, we would suggest that farthet crosses should be 
made in the hope of raising a good batch of seedlings.—ED. ] 
en 
