76 THE ORCHID REVIEW. (Marcu, rgro. 
worthii and the same X Leeanum superbum, neither of which appear to 
have germinated, but I do not think it probable that any of these could 
have come in contact with the clump.” 
The two flowers sent are most like C. Spicerianum, and might be a form 
of C. X Bruno, the cross with X Leeanum. We cannot distinctly trace C. 
insigne or Charlesworthii, but on the other hand they are not pure Spiceri- 
anum. A natural hybrid seems out of the question, and we suspect that in 
some way a few seeds have got astray, as they sometimes will in the most 
unaccountable manner, and in any case the Harrisianum-like plant looks 
suspicious. The C. bellatulum might be from imported seed, for seedlings 
of this have previously appeared. In any case the clump of bellatulum 
roots and attached compost seem to have formed a good seed bed. 
Flowers of two other interesting hybrids are also sent. The first is from 
C. Spicerianum x Schusterianum (villosum x Hookerz), and of this five 
flowers are sent to show the variation. One of them closely resembles C. 
villosum, except in its smaller staminode and slightly modified shape, while 
in another the preponderating influence of C. Spicerianum is almost as 
marked. (One seedling now out of flower is said to have turned out a nearly 
true Spicerianum). Inthe other three the characters of C. villosum are 
largely represented in the petals and lip, while the dorsal sepal is white, 
with a purple band, much purple veining and suffusion, and a green area 
with brown dotting at the base, while the staminode also approaches 
C. Spicerianum. The other two flowers are from C. x Schusterianum X 
Mastersianum. One of these has a green dorsal sepal, most like C. 
Hookerz, the apical half of the petals red-purple, and the lower green 
densely spotted with brown. The other has almost the shape and shining 
surface of C. villosum, with the staminode almost of C. Mastersianum, and 
a broad rounded brown dorsal sepal with green margin and apex. The 
Schusterianum parent is common to both the crosses named, a point of great 
interest being, that partial reversion to both the original grandparents is 
shown—a very clear case of dissociation. 
MENDELISM WITHOUT UNIT CHARACTERS.—A review by Mr. W. J, 
Shillman of a recently published work, entitled Our knowledge of Melanin 
Colour Formation and its bearing on the Mendelian Description of Heredity, by 
Oscar Riddle, concludes with the remark: ‘‘The writer hopes in the near 
future to be able to present a theory of Mendelian inheritance which is 
independent of the idea of unit characters and wholly independent of the 
idea of discontinuous variation.” This is interesting, for the term “ unit- 
characters ” is not included in Mendel’s original essay, and we have always 
contended that they do not exist. They are only phases of heredity, or the 
permanence of specific character. 
