234 THE ORCHID REVIEW. 
Two or three communications have now reached me respecting the 
“blue Cattleya,”’ one of which points out that the plant was sold entirely 
on the strength of the collector’s statement, which was circumstantial, and 
apparently convincing. This, I think, is quite likely, though it affords little 
satisfaction to those who purchased the plant and found it did not answer 
to the description. Vendors of Orchids must see to it that they are not 
themselves taken in by improbable stories. It would be interesting if the 
entire history of the transaction were recorded. It may be worth while to 
reproduce the following extracts from an article which appeared in the 
Pall Mall Gazette for February 8th last, the day after the sale :— 
“A BLUE CaTTLEYA AT PROTHEROE’S.—Sensations are not rare at 
67, Cheapside, though the public does not commonly hear of them. When 
a dozen of the richest men alive contend for an object, everybody likes to 
know the result ; but the announcement of a new flower with an incredible 
name does not perceptibly agitate the City. Almost every one knows 
enough of Orchids to understand that a blue Cattleya comes as neat the 
miraculous as can be expected in these days, like the new photography, 
and that was the sensation promised yesterday afternoon. Blue Orchids 
are very scarce, . . . but there is a small proportion among ground 
species. . . . Therefore the report of a blue epiphytal species hitherto 
unknown rouses more interest in the small class which troubles about such 
things than any other incident of its sort. It is, indeed, about the rarest of 
events, and in the only instance which we recall without book, the sale was 
stopped abruptly amid laughter and jeers. A foreign personage who should 
have known our market better offered a “blue Orchid” a few years age 
which English gardeners recognised as a_ species familiar from their 
childhood, never before described as “blue.” But a blue Cattleya has 
been rumoured for some years past in the innermost circle of adepts- as 
only authority for it, as far as we have heard, is certain Scotch miners wie 
were sent out to prospect in one of the wildest districts of South Americ 
Their report is unanimous and categorical. Cattleyas of divers a 
became as familiar to them, during several years’ wandering, aS roses # 
home, and if they tell a falsehood it must be a wilful one. But it does not 
follow by any means that the plant offered by Messrs. McArthur is that ie 
Scotch miners describe. In fact, two thousand miles separate the locality 
which they indicate from the Guarico mountains of Venezuela whence 9 
Cattleya has been brought. 
“ The little crowd at Protheroe’s should be described, perhaps, 3 eaget 
and inquisitive rather than enthusiastic. Every one wanted to know what 
every one else thought about the grand discovery announced. The 
amateurs and dealers, Sir Trevor Lawrence, Lord Rothschild, Mr. 
