302 THE ORCHID REVIEW. 
autumn and winter, it is a universal favourite. A variety with a warm 
brown pouch is perhaps better than the type, which has a green one, but 
that is the only variety worth naming as far as my knowledge goes. 
C. Charlesworthii is another gem, similar in many respects, but with a 
bright rose-lilac dorsal sepal that does not reflex, and with browner pouch 
and petals than its near relative. It is most curious how one bears a bright 
purple and the other a china-white horn on the staminode. There are 
many varieties of this species, all charming in my eyes, its only fault being 
that it is much less lasting in flower than the general run of Cypripedes. 
C. villosum is another indispensable species, but I think the type is not 
to be included in this list, though such varieties as C. vy. giganteum and C. 
v. aureum are quite first-rate, and permanent adornments of a collection, 
for blooms of this species are the most lasting of all flowers, and endure for 
many months on the plant, and even when cut, will keep for six weeks. 
Between C. barbatum and C. Lawrenceanum there is so little difference 
from a gardening point of view, that I take the larger form, C. Lawrence- 
anum, as the one that should be included in this list, and then only the 
brightest in colour, or the whitest, as the striking C. L. Hyeanum. 
Perhaps its nearly-allied species, C. callosum, shows a still more exquisite 
green and white variety in C. callosum Sanderz, but then it is so far nearly 
unique, and therefore unattainable. 
The dainty C. niveum is a gem of the first water, but it is not so easy to 
grow as might be desired. A little too much water in winter will destroy 
its roots, and it is not long-lasting in flower compared with many. Its 
varieties are practically nil, and, curiously enough, its hybrids are not any 
of them as beautiful as the type. 
I wonder how many will disagree with me when [| say that C. bellatulum 
and its hybrids should all, in my judgment, be excluded from this list ?. The 
habit of the plant is so ungraceful, the shape and colouring of the spotted 
flowers ugly and ill-defined, while, as far as I have seen, the hybrids raised 
from it are lumpish and ungainly in habit even when rich in colour, so that 
(me judice) I would exclude it and all of them, unless it be the pure and 
spotless C. bellatulum album, which goes far to make amends for all. 
There are many Cypripediums of which the shape is so ugly that I can 
only call them curiosities, but perhaps C. Curtisii in its best and brightest 
form may be included here, though tonsum, whose name denotes that its 
petals are “shorn” of ciliz, must certainly be excluded. Its pouch, too, 
is enormous, quite out of all proportion to the upper part of the flower. 
This ends my list of first-class Species and their varieties. Now let us 
turn to the triumphs of the gardening art, as shewn in the hybrids raised 
artificially. 
Perhaps Cypripedium x Morganiz, and _ its brighter variety, 
burfordiense, is still at the head of the list. At any rate, it is a very fine 
