234 THE ORCHID REVIEW. [AUGUST, IgII- 
BLOTCHED FORMS OF ODONTOGLOSSUM CRISPUM. 
I THINK I have brought off a most interesting scientific discovery. I was told 
some years ago, by a collector, that, in his opinion, the blotching in 
Odontoglossum crispum was obtained from O. tripudians. Why? I don't 
know. So I worked on this, first getting O. bellatulum (crispum X 
tripudians), and now crispum X bellatulum, and the result is a pure 
blotched crispum. I shall show seven or eight on Tuesday next (May 
gth), and you will find pure bellatulum, pure blotched crispum, and pure 
white crispum among them. I hope you will come and see them. The 
yellow, except in one instance, is entirely suppressed. J_S~. Mess. 
Wintershill Hall, Bishops Waltham. 
This interesting communication was received early in May last, and I 
regret that absence in Italy prevented my attending the R.H.S. meeting in 
question, while on my return they were mostly too far gone to send. It 
has long been thought that many of the so-called blotched forms of O. 
crispum were of hybrid origin, though a long period elapsed before 
experimental data were available to form a definite opinion upon, and even 
now a good deal of evidence available relates to what may be termed 
parallel developments. There is, however, some direct evidence, as has: 
been already recorded. The experiment made by Mr. Moss shows, in my 
opinion, one of these parallel developments. We have no evidence that O. 
tripudians grows intermixed with O.crispum, and we have not seen O. 
bellatulum matched among imported plants, though its occurrence should 
be expected if the two species grew intermixed. The resemblance of the 
secondary hybrids mentioned to a pure blotched crispum, however close it 
may be, does not, in my opinion, indicate identity of origin, and this for 
the reasons just mentioned. 
The term “blotched crispum” is loosely applied to anything which 
appears in an importation of O. crispum and is too much like that species 
to be referred to anything else. An importation of O. crispum may contain 
plants of O. luteopurpureum, gloriosum, Lindleyanum, Hunnewellianum, or 
triumphans, according to the district in which the plants were collected, 
and these would, of course, be recognised when they flower—not always 
before. It might also contain plants of the natural hybrids O. Wilckeanum, 
Andersonianum, Coradinei, Adriane, or harvengtense, these being 
indistinguishable from O. crispum until they flower. Other possible 
hybrids not containing O. crispum may be left out of consideration. 
Now the hybrids mentioned may, and we have good reason to believe 
do, through insect agency, become re-crossed with O. crispum, and recent 
experiments have afforded some glimpses of the amount of reversion and 
Be tee re Te eer 
