THE ORCHID REVIEW. 259 
DIES ORCHIDIAN. 
SINCE my last notes were written the list of Awards at the recent 
Hybridisation Conference has been issued, and I must confess my 
disappointment on finding that the two Veitch Memorial Medals offered for 
the two best new Orchids intentionally raised by cross-breeding or 
hybridisation—one in Great Britain, the other abroad—and never previously 
exhibited, were not awarded. Nothing appears to have been exhibited, 
either from home or foreign raisers, which fulfilled the conditions laid 
down. And yet Lelio-cattleya x Duvaliana was thought worthy of a 
First-class Certificate, and Awards of Merit were bestowed on L.-c. X 
Martinetii, Odontoglossum X Cooksoni Crawshayanum, Epilelia xX 
Charlesworthii, and Cypripedium X Shillianum. Whether all of these had 
previously been exhibited I cannot say, but I find the following note in the 
Gardeners’ Chronicle report of the exhibition (p. 58) :—* Two plants were 
entered for the Veitch Memorial Gold Medal for the best hybrid Orchid not 
previously shown, the exhibits being the beautiful Cypripedium X Shillianum 
[mis-spelt ‘Schillerianum’’] (Gowerlanum X Rothchildianum), sent by 
Capt. G. W. Law-Schofield (gr. Mr. Shill) ; and Odontoglossum X crispo- 
Hallii var. Crawshayanum, sent by De B. Crawshay, Esq. The Cypri- 
pedium was adjudged the Medal, but ultimately it was withdrawn, both 
plants having been previously exhibited, and therefore not eligible.” So 
much for home exhibits, and of foreign ones there appears to have been no 
entry. 
This seems to dispose of the matter, but all the same the result seems 
disappointing. The disqualification against Cypripedium X Shillianum 
seems to have been that it was exhibited at the previous meeting of the 
Manchester Orchid Society, but I was not aware that the Odontoglossum 
had been previously shown. It may, however, be that Mr. Cookson’s 
original hybrid between the same. two species prevents the term “‘new”’ 
being applied to the present one, though as varieties the two are very 
distinct, which is more than can be said of a good many others. Whether 
the handsome Lelio-cattleya x Duvaliana was disqualified in the same 
way I do not know, or whether the fact that it had not been ‘“‘entered ” for 
the award operated against it. But in such a case no special entry ought to 
be required. The necessary formalities admitting the plant to the 
exhibition having been complied with, the plant ought to have been eligible 
for any award to which its merits entitled it, and unless it had been 
previously exhibited I do not see why the Veitch Memorial Medal for the 
best foreign hybrid was not awarded to it. Then there was a most 
beautiful hybrid between Laelia purpurata and Cattleya Schroedere—since 
