280 THE ORCHID REVIEW. _ (SEPTEMBER, 1913. 
simplify their formule and make themselves more readily intelligible to 
themselves and to others. This simplified terminology commits one to no 
physiological theory ; it simply states facts. We need not assume that the 
wild form contains a number of factors which by mutation have been lost, 
unless we choose to do so, but are free to suppose that merely a readjust- 
ment hastaken place. The author concludes: ‘‘ That terminology evidently 
is most desirable which states demonstrated facts most clearly and simply, 
and makes fewest assumptions as to their explanation. Otherwise the 
investigator may be led to conclusions based on his terminology rather than 
his facts, and this can lead only to disaster.” 
ORCHIDS AT KEW. 
A fine plant of the brilliant Renanthera coccinea, ‘“‘ the Chinese Air- 
plant,” is now flowering at Kew, producing a panicle with six branches and 
over 100 scarlet flowers, and making a fine show. A specimen of Calanthe 
Dominyi, the first artificial hybrid Orchid, is bearing fifteen spikes of lilac 
flowers, and a group of Dendrobium Dearei arranged with plants of the 
allied D. Sanderz and D. Schuetzei also make a good display. Stanhopea 
tigrina, S. indora, and the distinct S. ecornuta have also flowered well, and 
a Gongora recently brought from Ecuador by Mr. W. Fox has been identi- 
fied with G. grossa, Rchb. f., only known from deseription. It has flowered 
very freely. A plant of the rare Oncidium Warneri is producing a raceme 
of nine flowers, with a four-lobed yellow lip, and the sepals and petals 
greenish striped with rose. A plant of Ccelia macrostachya is bearing six 
dense racemes of rose-coloured flowers, making a fine display. It is grown 
in a compost of three-parts fibrous loam and one part osmunda fibre. 
Good drainage is essential, and at the present season occasional waterings 
of weak liquid cow manure are beneficial. In the same house a number of 
Sobralia Veitchii are making a fine show, together with S. Amesiana and 
its two parents, S. xantholeuca and S. Wilsonii, also a plant of S. Lowi. 
S. Veitchii seems to be very variable, some forms being white with a yellow 
throat to the lip, others having a rosy tinge in the sepals and petals. A 
plant of the rare Platanthera iantha must also be mentioned. In the 
Warm house a small group of the Swan’s neck Orchids are very interesting, 
and include Cycnoches maculatum, chlorochilon, and Loddigesii, the latter 
the original species of the genus, and showing well the long arching 
character of the column from which the genus takes its name. Here also is 
a good plant of the very distinct Listrostachys forcipata, with short racemes 
of pellucid white flowers, which remain long in perfection. It has the 
habit of Oncidium iridifolium, and is very attractive. These are only a few 
of the many interesting species now in flower at Kew, and the showy 
species of the season are also well represented. H.L.S. 
