THE ORCHID REVIEW. 169 
This year I bought a few more “fine selected” plants, and within a 
month I found I had replenished my stock of fine ‘‘ black” and grubs in 
plenty. Needless to say, the knife went to work, and I think I have saved 
my bacon. Wherever there is a hole in an old bulb, off with it, and if you 
split it up, the chances are you'll find the fly or eggs. “ XL.” will kill them 
if they get out, but it won’t get at the grubs; it is only when full-grown that 
the fly eats its way out and begins the mischief of laying its eggs elsewhere. 
The curious thing is, one cannot detect how the grub gets into the new 
growth—at least, I have failed to do so. [Eggs laid inside.—Eb.] 
“ WELLINGTON.” 
A HYBRIDIST’S NOTES. 
Mr. Cooxson’s notes on the time of ripening seed at page 112 of the April 
number are valuable, especially since his experience differs from mine 
in a number of points. The time required here is doubtless shortened by 
the intense sunlight, this latitude being the same as that of central Egypt, 
and for at least half the year the sun is so powerful that it is impossible 
to handle metal objects lying in full sunlight without gloves, their temper- 
ature rising to about 160° F., even when the shade temperature near by is 
quite comfortable. As to the warning that seeds are not to be counted 
good unless they produce plants, I have rarely found seeds that look really 
plump and well-developed under the microscope to fail to pass through the 
earlier stages of germination, increasing in size five or six-fold and develop- 
ing plenty of chlorophyll, which would certainly show them to be alive. 
The exceptions have almost all been seeds with one parent ranked as “‘ cool.” 
These swell up, but fail to take on a lively green colour, and after some 
months usually die without further growth. 
I have raised healthy plants from half-a-dozen Lelia and Cattleya 
crosses which were but seven and eight months in ripening seed, and in 
one case, C. amethystoglossa crossed with L. flava and L. harpophylla (on 
the same flower), the pod ripened in 43 months, and within six weeks of 
planting the seed I had one plant with a leaf three-eighths of an inch long, 
besides innumerable smaller plants just ready to push the leaf. On the 
other hand some crosses have lingered as long in the seed-pod as any 
recorded in England. 
The Editor’s suggestion that several flowers on the same plant should 
be crossed at the same time with different pollen, and the time recorded, 
has already been carried into effect, with the following results :—In October, 
1894, I had three flowers on the same spike of Cattleya Warscewiczii, and 
crossed one with pollen of C. velutina ; another with L. Perrinii, C. Bow- 
