FeBruary, 1912.] THE ORCHID REVIEW. 47 
the sea at high tide, I found a large mass of Catasetum macrocarpum, 
bearing enormous seed pods, fully eight inches in length. The walls of an 
old church, dating from about 1520, about twenty-five feet high, were 
thickly covered with a most interesting growth of plants, of which a fair 
estimate would place the number of species at two hundred, Oncidium 
Cebolleta being the only Orchid observed. 
Some notes on the Orchids of Jamaica may be deferred until our 
next issue. 
LAELIA GOULDIANA. 
IT is rumoured that the recently-imported plants of Lelia Gouldiana (see 
page 15), did not come from a wild habitat, but from some native garden, 
and that the actual habitat is not known. We should much like to have 
the information confirmed. That the natives cultivate the Mexican 
Lelias is well known, and M. Juan Balme recently informed us that 
LL. anceps is in all parts cultivated in the Indian gardens on the trees and 
‘Opuntias. Nothing was stated as to the source of the original plants of 
L. Gouldiana, and it would be interesting to know if any records exist. If 
really a garden plant, the question arises how was it originally obtained ? 
and as to this it seems useless to speculate. A native might bring in a 
handsome form, as this is, and cultivate it, without troubling about its 
origin, and in time come to possess a stock, and on this view it might still 
be of hybrid origin. The broad petals and the rich colour suggest an 
affinity with L. furfuracea, a species probably lost to cultivation, and which 
is said to grow with L. autumnalis in the State of Michoacan. Reichenbach 
originally remarked of L. Gouldiana: “If it is a hybrid, as L. Crawshayana 
may also be, you must think of L. autumnalis, and perhaps of L. anceps, 
as possible parents, by reason of the grand colours. And why is it not a 
species, when the nearest allies have such very slight characters? And as 
a species may have a very wide area, perhaps this L. Gouldiana may be a 
variety of L. Crawshayana.” The latter view has not been confirmed, 
and it would be interesting to clear up the origin of this mysterious plant. 
SPECIES AND HYBRIDS.—It may seem curious that there should be no 
certain means of distinguishing species from hybrids, unless the latter are 
imperfect in some of their organs, which not infrequently happens through 
incompatability of structures caused by the union of two distinct organisms. 
_ But among Orchids hybrids are often not only apparently as perfect, but 
also as fertile as their parents, a fact which illustrates the difficulty. of 
identifying a natural hybrid from examination only, unless the importation 
or the native country is known. It is not always that they possess 
characters intermediate between two well-known species. 
