MARCH, 191T.] THE ORCHID REVIEW. 73 
Further, Mr. C. C. Hurst, to whom I am much indebted for valuable 
criticism, considers that Chondropetalum Fletcheri is within the range of 
variability of Zygopetalum Mackayi produced by monolepsis. 
For these reasons, discussion of the facts here recorded must clearly be 
postponed until they have been confirmed, or until corroborated by the 
results of other experiments. But it may be of interest to recall, as.a partial 
parallel to the result of the cross Z. Mackayi @ xX C.Chestertoni ¢, that 
Miss Saunders found that the offspring from pollinating certain glabrous 
Stocks by hairy were partly amphi-, partly monoleptic (Rep. I. Roy. Soc. 
Evol. Com. (1902), p. 39), and that she and Mr. Bateson consider that 
heterozygosis was out of the question ; while Millardet’s ‘ false hybrids” of 
pure paternal type (Mém. Soc. Sct. Bordeaux, sér. 4, 1V. (1894), p. 347) may 
be quoted in connection with the reciprocal cross, C. Chestertoni 2? x Z. 
Mackayi ¢. 
Cambridge. R. H. COMPTON. 
NOTES ON L4£LIA RUBESCENS. 
THIs very pretty Orchid seems to be much neglected, if not quite over- 
looked, by amateurs or others growing a general collection. Why this is so 
I cannot imagine, as it is really a good thing, and very easy to grow; even 
the smallest pseudobulbs are almost sure to flower if at all well ripened. 
During the spring of 1909, while travelling through the Pacific coast 
districts of Guatemala and the Mexican State of Chiapas, I found it in 
great abundance, often in immense masses on the wide-spreading branches 
of ‘‘ Bombax Ceiba,’ enduring the torrid heat of the dry spring months 
when the Ceiba for some time is quite defoliated. The form found in these 
regions is mostly white with a maroon-coloured blotch in the throat. Some- 
times the sepals and petals are faintly tinged with lavender or very pale 
mauve. The zone of distribution appeared to be between sea level and 
1,000 feet, and no plants were observed much aboye this elevation. 
Recently, while in the Mexican State of Campeche, many hundreds of 
miles from the above-mentioned habitat, and quite upon the other side of 
the lofty Cordilleras, I most unexpectedly came upon Lelia rubescens in 
countless numbers, in full flower, growing upon the low branches of the 
logwood trees (Hematoxylon Campechianum). These trees are almost 
entirely confined to swampy areas, and comparatively few other trees are 
found growing with them. These swamps are covered with water for about 
six months of the year, from June to November—the vegetative period 
of L. rubescens—but become quite dry and fiercely hot during the dry 
spring months of the year, from March to June. The plants get but little 
shade, and are often quite bronzy or ruddy from the rays of the tropical 
sun. 
