THE ORCHID REVIEW. 139 
DIES ORCHIDIAN, 
OnE of my correspondents calls attention to the epidemic of provisional 
names, and thinks it quite time I had something to say on the subject. He 
purchased some of the “‘ new Anguloa alba magna, but when it flowered it 
proved to be neither new nor white, but simply the old Anguloa uniflora, 
which he had known ever since he can remember. Yet it was again re- 
christened Anguloa Watsoniana,” which he cannot understand—and for the 
matter of that neither can I—but he thinks ‘ this wholesale re-naming of 
well-known old plants is nothing short of a public scandal.” Now, he says, 
we have a wonderful new Cypripedium and a Ccelogyne ditto, to say 
nothing of others, and the question is what will these prove to be. I really 
cannot tell him at present, but I fully agree that there ought to be some 
means of ascertaining beforehand whether these so-called novelties have 
any right to the title. 
He also suggests that dried flowers ought to be obtained and submitted 
to some expert, who would recognise old species and thus prevent well- 
known plants from receiving useless new names, which are only a source of 
annoyance to everybody. He then goes on to ask :—‘‘ What is this 
wonderful new Cypripedium Sandere? Description says it is the best 
Cypripedium for cutting purposes ever introduced, and that from photo- 
graphs and measurements received with the plants the species is believed to 
be far and away the largest of the genus yet discovered. The lateral petals 
are much broader than in any other Cypripede we know of. The pouch is 
unique in shape, &c. All this sounds very promising, but have these 
photographs and other materials been submitted to an pg se ? And if not, 
why not? And what is this other new and magnifi ipedium from 
the Malayan Archipelago? The collector says it is pais the grandest 
Cypripedium he has ever seen, and should prove one of the most sensational 
productions of late years. Did he take the trouble to dry a flower? I want 
to buy a plant or two as soon as I can find out what they are, but my 
experience of Cattleya floribunda and Anguloa alba magna is sufficient for 
the present.” 
These remarks are very much to the point, but I must leave my corre- 
spondent’s questions until a future occasion; meantime I commend them 
to the notice of all those whom they may concern. ‘“ When found, make a 
note of,” as Captain Cuttle would have observed. I certainly hope that the 
plants in question will prove new and good, but recent experiences are not 
encouraging, and a little repetition of this sort of thing can only have one 
effect, so far as buyers are concerned. In the case of Cattleya floribunda it 
