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Wien XX: FEBRUARY, tg12. [No. 230. 
OUR NOTE BOOK. 
ANOTHER step towards the production of the much desired ‘scarlet 
crispum ” has been taken, Messrs. Charlesworth & Co. having exhibited on 
January gth a secondary hybrid from Odontioda Bradshawize x Odonto- 
glossum crispum, under the name of Odontioda Schreederi. The result of 
this cross shows a considerable increase in size, while much of the red 
colour of the former parent has been retained, a matter which has been 
considered rather problematical. It should develop into a good thing when 
the seedling becomes strong. No one expected to get a plant with the size 
and shape of the Odontoglossum and the colour of the Cochlioda in the 
first or even in the second generation, but it is probably only a question of 
time, for hybridisation and selection are already working wonders. 
At the following meeting flowers ofa very curious hybrid were exhibited 
from the collection of Sir William Marriott, the parents being Leelia anceps 
Sanderiana and Cattleya Aclandiz. ‘The flowerwas most like the Lelia 
parent in shape, but larger and pale pink in colour. The two parents are 
very distinct in general character, and it will be interesting to see what the 
hybrid is like when fully developed. 
We have lately been much exercised about the problem of variation 
among secondary hybrids, but the report of a recent lecture reminds us of 
another phase of the question. Variation, we are told, can no longer be 
regarded as an indefinite phenomenon. We must dismiss from our minds 
all preconceptions as to how evolution has proceeded, and as to the part 
played by utility of structure, and study the properties of animals and 
plants exactly as we should those of inorganic structures. The doctrine 
that the degree of fixity of a specific character is a measure of its utility to 
the organism can no longer be held. The theory of natural selection is 
said to fail exactly at the point where it is most wanted to help us, namely, 
the meaning of specific differences. All this it seems has been discovered 
through the study of variation and heredity by means of Mendelian 
analysis. 
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