260 THE ORCHID REVIEW. 
DIES ORCHIDIAN. 
“Your correspondent, ‘Argus,’ has given us most excellent abstract 
criticism and advice as to what to seek and what to avoid in the matter of 
varietal nomenclature. Now I wish to draw from him some concrete and 
affirmative suggestions, and that they may not be wasted I will take 
instances only from hybrids of which I already have small plants, and 
which will have to be named some day. 
‘“‘In many cases a good name will suggest itself, as flagrans for the cross 
between Lelia flava and Epidendrum fragrans, or Pertria for C. Percival- 
iana X C. Triane. But as soon as we come anywhere near the deprecated 
‘vernacular’ we strike a rock. For example, what name is suitable for C. 
Bowringiana X C. bicolor? If old Johannes Bock is thought to be 
suitably commemorated by the genus Tragia (tragus = a billy-goat), may we 
transmogrify the other name into Arcannulus or Toxocycla, or, may be, for 
euphony, Cyclotoxa ? And shall we call the hybrid Bicyclotoxa, or must 
we avoid mixing languages, and make it Dichromocyclotoxa, which is, at 
any rate, two syllables shorter than bicolori-Bowringiana, but, nevertheless, 
comes under Linnaeus’s prohibition of ‘names a foot-and-a-half long.’ For 
my part, I incline to simplicity—say Biarcus or Bitoxa, and be done with 
it. In case of C. Warscewiczii x C. Schilleriana, I am afraid the classics 
will not help us. Might we call our hybrid Schilliczii or Warscewilla, or 
Warilla—or whatever? Epidendrum nocturnum x Cattleya Bowringiana 
might do as Epicattleya x Bona-nox, but will ‘ Argus’ tell me what to call 
my Epidendrum fragrans x Cattleya Skinneri ? 
“The American Pomological Society has one rule of nomenclature for 
fruits that we sorely need to apply to Orchid varieties, namely, that varietal 
names consisting of more than one word shall be utterly prohibited and 
ignored, at least, as to the surplusage; and in their biennial catalogue, which 
is authoritative, all new varietal names are set down, and, if necessary, 
reduced accordingly. So, for example, the peach or apple sent out as 
‘Stump the World,’ is thus reduced to the mere ‘Stump,’ as it should be. 
* Whatever the florists choose to do in naming secondary hybrids, we 
have a right to, insist that crosses between distinct species shall be named in 
accordance with botanical canons. So Lelio-cattleya X Frederick Boyle 
—if it is too late to call it Triceps, from its parents—ought to be Boy lei. 
And so with a host of other vernacular names, which should be banished to 
the seclusion of the sale catalogues, and not on any account admitted to 
the horticultural journals, except in parentheses after the properly 
Latinized form.” —TuEoporE L. MEAD.—Oviedo, Florida, U.S.A. 
