THE ORCHID REVIEW. 135 
‘‘imprimator,” and was not authenticated by them as being what it 
professed to be. The growers and amateurs would send plants of special 
novelty and merit to the Shows in order to get the “ Hall Mark” of the 
Society, since all plants and varieties which could pass the test would have 
an assured and increased value. On the other hand, names which had no 
official approval would cease to carry the slightest weight, and would soon 
be dropped altogether. 
In this way not only would the interest of the Shows increase and the 
finances of the Society be benefited, but we should gradually get rid of 
hundreds of names which have been affixed without any kind of authority 
to plants not one wit better than the ordinary type, and we should make 
some approach at any rate to an orderly and scientific nomenclature of new 
varieties under the control and responsibility of an expert tribunal. 
J. CHAMBERLAIN. 
Highbury, Moor Green, 
Birmingham. 
BOTANICAL ORCHIDS AT KEW. 
SEVERAL of the botanical Orchids mentioned last month are still flowering 
in the Kew collection, and numerous additional ones have taken the place 
of those which are over. One of the prettiest is that little gem Phalzn- 
opsis Parishii, with its white sepals and petals and purple lip. _It remains 
in flower a long time, and but for the difficulty of obtaining it, would 
probably be more widely grown. Dendrobium hainanense (Rolfe) is a free- 
flowering species from the island of Hainan, with terete leaves and 
numerous white flowers with a yellow spot on the disc of the lip. 
Microstylis macrochila and M. Scottii are also opening; their foliage is 
always elegant, and the large purple flowers of the former should ensure 
for it a place in every collection where botanical Orchids are grown. 
Among Angracums may be mentioned the pretty little A. fastuosum and 
the rare A. Germinyanum, a native of Madagascar. Cottonia macro- 
stachya has flowers remarkably like a beetle with purple-brown elytra. 
Polystachya bracteosa, which is remarkable for its dorsally flattened pseudo- 
bulbs, is producing several racemes of greenish flowers. 
Among Ccelogynes may be mentioned the curious little C. uniflora, and 
C. carinata (Rolfe) from New Guinea; also the allied Pholidota ventri- 
cosa. Several Maxillarias are now in flower, including the curious M. 
aciantha with fleshy segments, M. Meleagris and M. pumila. Leptotes 
bicolor is another little gem, which is exceedingly pretty when well grown. 
