THE ORCHID REVIEW. 
VoL. IX.] FEBRUARY, 190%. 
(No. 98. 
—— 
Zn Bemoriam. 
SiNCE the issue of our last number the nation has experienced a 
great bereavement in the death of its beloved Sovereign, Queen 
Victoria, a ruler whose memory will be revered, not only among her 
own subjects, but throughout the civilised world. 
Sixty-three years is a long period to look back upon, and it is 
difficult to realize that Her late Majesty ascended the throne in the 
year that Bateman’s great work, The Orchidaceae of Mexico and 
Guatemala, was commenced, and long before the completion of 
Lindley’s Genera and Species of Orchidaceous Plants. What Orchid 
culture was like in those days may be inferred from the notes in our 
last issue, where we saw that they were then only just beginning to 
find out how to grow such species as were accessible, and that it 
was in this very year that Gibson started on his historic mission to 
the Khasia Hills. Of its present development there is no need to 
speak. It is worthy of remark, however, that Cattleya Mossie, 
which was introduced immediately after Her Majesty’s accession, 1S 
still one of the most popular species in cultivation. 
How far Orchids were included among the Queen’s favourite 
flowers we cannot say, but Her Majesty was, at all events, an. 
Orchid grower, for many of these plants were included among the 
plant collectigns at Windsor, as we have had the pleasure of 
seeing. We also recall the splendid specimen of the Dove Orchid, 
Peristeria elata, bearing eight fine spikes and an aggregate of over 
three-hundred of its remarkable flowers, to which a First-class 
Certificate and also a Silver Flora Medal were awarded by the 
Royal Horticultural Society in September, 1898, in recognition of 
its exceptional culture. We also believe that some of the Orchids 
