238 THE ORCHID REVIEW. [AUGUST, 1913. 
Dowiana aurea that have been obtained to increase the stock of this choice 
Cattleya. The seedlings are grown here until they reach a considerable 
size, and are then moved on to the other houses as room is required. 
Want of space prevents a fuller account of this flourishing establish- 
ment, and we must congratulate M. Pauwels and his assistants on their 
success. The situation is low, but the air and light are good, and there are 
no fogs in the winter to contend with. The houses are well designed, and 
the arrangements for ventilation and shading perfect. Under such 
conditions, and with the enterprise and attention to detail that is every- 
where apparent, one can understand the excellent condition of the collection 
and the substantial progress that is being made. 
Egnane Weert ee 
ORCHIDS AT LOOCHRISTI. 
THE name of M. Ch. Vuylsteke is a household word among lovers 
of Odontoglossums, and the famous establishment at Loochristi was 
naturally one of the attractions during the Ghent week. On calling there 
we found that another great development has taken place, M. Vuylsteke 
having erected two large blocks of houses on the Belgian system, each 
comprising what may be described as six houses in one, the intervening 
divisions being absent, and the ridge and furrow roof being supported on 
piers, so as to give free circulation of air between the different divisions, an 
arrangement which is quite practicable when all the divisions are to be 
treated alike, as in the case of Odontoglossums and Odontiodas, which 
have long been M. Vuylsteke’s speciality. 
An enormous number of plants were in flower or spike in the different 
houses, the majority of the Odontoglossums being blotched hybrids in 
endless variety, for blotching seems to be quite a dominant character. The 
amount of variation among seedlings out of the same batch is remarkable, 
though unfortunately the parentage is not known in a good many cases. 
The experiments were begun many years ago with a number of good forms, 
and the best of the resulting seedlings have again been intercrossed, 
probably .with certain additions from outside, but the well-known 
polymorphism of secondary hybrids defies all efforts to trace their origin 
subsequently unless the batches have been carefully isolated. One such 
case was seen in O. crispum Luciani X Wiganianum, where the variation 
was remarkable. There were both white and yellow grounds, with 
blotching of the most diverse kind. One was a white of good shape, with 
chocolate blotches and the disc of the lip bright yellow. A second had 
quite different blotches of similar colour and rather poor shape. A third 
had a yellow ground with red-brown blotches, and our notes proceed, one 
was much like O. loochristiense, another near O. Wilckeanum, while the 
next would pass for a blotched O. crispum. But this condition of things 
