THE ORCHID REVIEW. 201 
might very well be repeated in this connection, and the one thing which is 
clear to my mind is that the present go-as-you-please system must inevitably 
break down under its own rapidly increasing weight. As for the rest, 
perhaps matters may be left to work themselves out in their own way, 
though I think I have indicated how much of the ever-increasing confusion 
might be avoided. The question is whether those who name our hybrids— 
and varieties generally, for hybrids are by no means singular in respect to their 
nomenclature—will adopt the suggestions, and make some attempt to 
embody them in their practice. We want a Rational Nomenclature 
League, I think. 
ARGUS. 
CYPRIPEDIUM HYBRIDIZATION. 
Instances will doubtless readily recur to many of your readers of hybrid 
Orchids with stated parentage having been shown at the meetings of the 
Royal Horticultural Society, of which it was truly remarked, that the 
influence of one of the reputed parents was absent. I have now in flower 
the first of a batch of seedlings, Cypripedium barbatum var. ? X Gi 
niveum g. May, 1891, January, 1892, and May, 1892, were the respective 
dates of hybridizing, of sowing the seed, and of the first appearance of 
seedlings. In this first ower, I am compelled to admit, I see no trace of 
the pollen parent, niveum, nor do I find it in the foliage. May I ask, Is 
it necessarily a fault in the manner of hybridizing ? 
It is no uncommon thing to hear a child spoken of as being the very 
image of either its father or its mother. Why should not this resemblance 
to one parent only occur also in plant life? We know that seedlings raised 
from the same pod do vary sometimes very considerably the one from the 
other; just as in a litter, all the puppies are not alike. Iam pleased to say 
that some of the same batch of seedlings, as yet unflowered, do appear to 
show some of the “niveum” substance in their leaves, so that I can still 
look forward to their flowering period with interest. 
If some of our well-known Orchid growers and hybridists would deign 
to enlighten us as to their individual experiences, it would be most 
instructive, and of great service to an amateur like myself. I would ask, for 
instance, Has such a thing happened to any of them, that seedlings have 
been raised without showing any trace whatever of the pollen parent ? 
Considering how long Cypripediums barbatum and niveum have been 
cultivated in this country, say 50 and 25 years respectively, is it not 
singular that this particular cross has not been more successfully accom- 
plished? The Cypripedium X Tautzianum varieties are said to be the 
reverse cross to mine, and the progeny seems to be extremely scarce. 
