Avcust, 1911] THE ORCHID REVIEW. 235. 
variation which takes place. And if reversion appears within two or three 
generations, what may not have happened in a state of nature, where these 
same forms have grown together for ages, and have passed through 
countless generations ? 
There is, of course, no record of parentage of these wild forms. One 
can only recognise them as hybrids by their characters, and their extreme 
variability defies all attempts to classify them with certainty. Some are 
fairly intermediate, and we regard them as primary hybrids; others are 
most like one or the other supposed parent, but we cannot be sure whether 
they are variations of the others or secondary hybrids. Some resemble one 
supposed parent very closely, and we include them as varieties of that, but 
they may be reversions from hybrids, just as we find in the case of artificial 
hybrids. A few show what is sometimes called “just a touch of hybridity,’” 
but this is due to incomplete reversion. All these phenomena are shown in 
the case of what we call Odontoglossum crispum, and evidence of it may 
be obtained from importations of known origin. The so-called ‘ blotched 
crispums ”’ are a composite set, and differ according to the district in which: 
they are collected, which is only another way of saying according to the 
species which grow intermixed with and hybridise with O. crispum. They 
are not found where the latter grows by itself. The Popayan O. crispum. 
Lehmanni affords an example of the latter fact, for it varies very little, and 
there is an absence of the blotched varieties found in the other districts- 
(See O.R., xvi. p. 227). 
Were the origin of the hybrids above described by Mr. Moss unknown 
we should be justified in calling them ‘‘ blotched crispums,”’ and a few years. 
ago could have called them nothing else, which is just where their biological 
interest comes in. They show “blotched crispums”’ in the making. They 
are not simple variations of O. crispum, but secondary hybrids, just as- 
the wild forms are, though not of identical parentage. A few more 
intercrossings, and perhaps a little self-fertilisation, would probably 
result in reversions which could not be distinguished from unblotched forms 
of O. crispum, or which could only be said to show “just a touch of 
hybridity.””. We very much wish someone would conduct a similar set of 
experiments with O. luteopurpurem, Hunnewellianum, gloriosum, Lindley- 
anum, and triumphans as the second parent, for we believe that this would 
demonstrate the origin of ‘‘ blotched crispums”’ as we actually know them. 
We should then understand much better what goes on in a state of nature: 
in the crispum districts than we do at present. We commend these 
experiments to our readers, many of whom are successful raisers of Odonto- 
glossums. If any such experiments have already been made we hope that 
they will send us the results, and thus help to clear up a very interesting but. 
difficult problem. R. A. ROLFE. 
