MARCH, 1912. | THE ORCHID REVIEW. 75- 
*RoOLFE, R. A., A.L.S., 12, Lawn Crescent, Kew. 
SANDER, F., V.M.H., St. Albans. 
SHILL, J. E., The Dell, Englefield Green. 
TuHompson, W., Walton Grange, Stone, Staffs. 
THWAITES, R. G., 23, Christchurch Road, Streatham, S.W. 
WuiTtTE, W. H., Burford Lodge Gardens, Dorking. 
WILson, GuRNEY, F.L.S., Glenthorne, Haywards Heath. 
3 copia eameat 
FERTILISATION AND SECONDARY HYBRIDS. 
(Concluded from page 38). 
HavinG shown the effect of pollination on the development of the ovary 
and ovules of an Orchid, and its essential distinctness from the process of. 
fertilisation, we may now consider some of the phenomena of hybridisation. 
Hybrids are the result of uniting individuals belonging to distinct species, 
and are generally more or less intermediate between their two parents, and» 
distinct from both. Species may be said to reproduce themselves true from- 
seed—at all events as far as their specific characters are concerned—and this 
is because the two parents are alike, which sufficiently explains why the term: 
hybridisation cannot properly be applied to the union of forms of the same~- 
species. Hybridisation implies the union of the unlike, and the production 
of forms distinct from either parent, hence the term ‘‘ False hybrid” when- 
only one parent—generally the mother—is reproduced. 
Hybrids, therefore, combine two distinct ancestries, and the result is a+ 
compromise; an organism more or less intermediate between the parents, - 
or at least combining their characters in a variety of ways. Where the 
parents are nearly allied the hybrid can generally be described as inter-- 
mediate, but when very distinct species are crossed the mosaic character is 
usually more apparent. In such cases the hybrid may resemble one parent 
in certain features and the second parent in others, especially if one of them. 
possesses some anomalous character, as in the case of Cattleya citrina,. 
for example. If the two parents possess distinct hairs or other 
epidermal appendages, the two kinds may sometimes be found side by side 
in the hybrid. But among primary hybrids, in whatever way the com-- 
promise is effected, the batch of seedlings, or even successive batches raised 
from the same two species, are generally fairly uniform in character, so that: 
their common origin is easily recognised. 
In the case of secondary and more complex hybrids a very different con-- 
dition of things is seen. A great amount of variation is now apparent, and 
seedlings out of the same capsule are often so diverse that one might sus- 
pect some of them to have come from different crosses. If two species, 
A and B, are intercrossed, and the hybrid AB be then united with a third 
species, C, some of the resulting seedlings will resemble the hybrid AC, and 
