JANUARY, I9I0.] THE ORCHID REVIEW, 13 
in the foundation cell of the hybrid organism the compromise was complete, 
in the sense that the dissimilar qualities were entirely and permanently 
accommodated together, the hybrids would reproduce themselves true from 
seed, like any stable plant organism, but if the arrangement between the 
conflicting elements were only temporary they would liberate themselves 
when uniting to form the new generation. This dissociation would 
naturally result manifest itself in the variation of the offspring of the 
succeeding generation, in other words, the hybrid would not produce itself 
true from seed. 
A hybrid may be described as a mosaic, an organism composed of more 
or less dissimilar cells, some more nearly resembling one parent, some the 
other, and this fact shows clearly the fundamental difference between 
primary and secondary hybrids. As the reproductive cells (pollen and 
ovules) formed by species are pure and uniform in character, it follows that 
the primary hybrids formed by their union are also fairly uniform, whatever 
the nature of the compromise. But the hybrids themselves, owing to their 
mosaic character, form reproductive cells in which the characters of the 
original species are represented in very varying proportions, hence the wide 
range of variation and varying amount of reversion seen in a batch of 
secondary hybrids, which phenomena gave rise to the conception of “ unit 
characters.” 
This fundamental difference between primary and secondary hybrids 
shows the difficulty of dealing with them on a uniform system as regards 
nomenclature. The degree of resemblance between primary hybrids 
derived from forms of the same species permits of their being considered as 
forms of one, and also enables them to be recognized when their origin is 
not known, but neither proposition applies to secondary hybrids, owing to 
their erratic nature. How far these facts were appreciated when the 
Nomenclature Committee of the R.H.S. drew up its rules for the naming of 
hybrids is uncertain, but they have become increasingly apparent with the 
great development of hybridisation during recent years, which fact justifies 
the proposal to treat secondary and more complex hybrids as florists’ flowers, 
naming only the choicer ones and ignoring the remainder. The necessity 
of such a course is now fully recognised. R.A 
CALENDAR OF OPERATIONS FOR JANUARY, 
By W. C. Price, Oakdene, West Didsbury. 
GENERAL REMARKS.—Owing to the very dull weather we had during 
the latter end of last year, very great care should be taken in watering the 
plants and in damping the houses, the absence of sun having made it very 
difficult to ripen the growths satisfactorily. Before watering a plant make 
