340 THE ORCHID REVIEW. 
vigorous grower, and altogether a very promising plant. The parents are 
said to have been D. tripetaloides 2 and D. x Veitchii 7, though without this 
record one would have thought first of D. racemosa, both from the colour 
and structure. It is curious to note that one of the parents is itself a hybrid, 
which flowered for the first time in June, 189r. 
THE NOMENCLATURE OF HYBRIDS. 
Our attention has again been called to this rather difficult subject, and to 
the divergent methods at present followed by different people. Some there 
are who follow the florist’s method, pure and simple, and give a distinct 
name to every different form, even if derived from the same seed-pod; as 
Cypripedium x pycnopterum and C. x porphyrospilum, both derived from 
the same capsule. Others consider all hybrids obtained from the same two 
species as forms of one, distinguishing any divergent forms by varietal names 
only, as Cypripedium x Harrisianum and C. x Harrisianum superbum. A 
reversed cross frequently receives a distinctive name. Thus we have Lzlio- 
cattleya x Hippolyta and L. x Phcebe, both derived from Cattleya 
Mossiz and Lelia cinnabarina. Cypripedium Lathamianum inversum is 
also an attempt to indicate a hybrid with reversed parentage which has 
little else to distinguish it. Again, the botanical rule of distinguishing 4 
hybrid by the joint names of its parents has sometimes been followed, as 
in Cypripedium x javanico-superbiens and C. x venusto-Spicerianum ; also 
C. x barbato-villosum and C. x Fairieano-insigne, two alternative names 
proposed by Reichenbach for C. x Harrisianum and C. x Arthurianum, 
respectively. A lack of brevity is perhaps the chief thing which can be urged 
against this method, and a modification of the system has recently resulted 
in such names as, Cypripedium x Lawrebel, C. x ceno-superbiens, C. x 
conco-Lawre, C. x Lawre-conco, C. x Harrisi-froye, and Masdevallia 
x Shuttryana, one or two of which leave a lurking suspicion in the mind 
that brevity may sometimes be too dearly purchased. 
In the latter connection the question has arisen whether the name of the 
male or female parent should be placed first, and in this matter an unfortunate 
diversity of practice exists. Thus Cypripedium x barbato-villosum — 
C. villosum crossed with the pollen of C. barbatum, or, to put eae 7 
abbreviated form, C. villosum x barbatum. And C. x Fairieano-insig?® 
means C. insigne x Fairieanum. C. x venusto-Spicerianum, howevets ee 
not mean C. Spicerianum x venustum, but just the reverse. And the same 
may be said of most of the compound names recently given. This cee: 
of practice is unfortunate, and, as a correspondent remarks, ‘¢ renders } 
difficult to keep an accurate record.” 
