FEBRUARY, 1907.-| THE ORCHID REVIEW. 35 
sand pollen parents are known. Some hybrids are still only known by such 
.a formula, but in these cases it was found useful or necessary to give a 
name. Now these Rules provide that such names are subject to the same 
‘rules as the names of species, but are to be distinguished from them by the 
addition of the sign X before the name. The adopted names of the hybrids 
just mentioned are, respectively, Calanthe x Veitchii and Lelio-cattleya x 
Canhamiana, and they agree precisely with these Rules, though given long 
before the Vienna Congress. And in what respect do they cause ‘‘ unneces- 
sary trouble?” Would ‘‘Calanthe Messrs. Veitch” or “‘ Lelio-cattleya 
Mr. Canham”’ have given less trouble? It is just as well to get clear ideas 
on the subject, because we are all anxious to get at this system which will 
avoid unnecessary trouble. But it is not the use of the vernacular. The 
cause lies deeper than that. The hybrid between Cattleya Mossie and 
Lelia purpurata has over a dozen duly recorded names, extending over as 
many years, and several of them in the vernacular, but that does not lessen 
the confusion. And many vernacular names are a direct incentive to con- 
fusion, because some of its developments are utterly incongruous—the direct 
result of a wrong system. 
It is very easy to point out what leads to confusion in nomenclature—I 
am speaking specially of hybrids—if it is difficult to suggest a remedy. The 
hybridisation of Orchids has now become a very popular pastime—nay, a 
great industry—and it frequently happens that a certain cross is made in 
different collections at about the same time, or flowers almost simultaneously 
in different collections. The raiser, perhaps with little opportunity of 
knowing all that has been previously recorded, gives a name, and exhibits 
the plant, when it gets recorded. It matters not whether the name is in 
Latin or in the vernacular, or whether intended as a provisional one or not, 
if the same hybrid has already been named, and the new name gets on 
record, the mischief is done, and is beyond recall. And when, as has 
frequently happened, different specific names are given to seedlings out 
of the same capsule, or to seedlings from different varieties of the same 
species—it matters not what those names are—further confusion is introduced. 
Another cause is the absence, through various reasons, of the record of 
parentage, or, what is much the same thing, an incorrect record. These are 
the causes of nine-tenths of the deplorable confusion which exists. 
Where the vernacular system so often leads to confusion is the frequent 
suse of specific names consisting of two or more words, for no such names 
should be given unless they can be joined by a hyphen. The point has 
already been discussed, and the incongruities to which it leads pointed out. 
“The old-system, so well:exemplified in such names as Calanthe X Veitchii, 
