10 THE ORCHID REVIEW. 
new varieties first make sure of their novelty and distinctness; next, let 
them choose a suitable name; and, lastly, let them always put their 
characters on record.- 
OBITUARY. 
THE death of Mr. James Bateman, M.A., F.R.S., which took place at his 
residence, Spring Bank, Victoria Road, Worthing, removes probably the 
oldest Orchidist among us, and thus severs a remarkable link with the past. 
Not only had Mr. Bateman reached the mature age of 86, but his active 
connection with Orchids dates back to a period of nearly seventy years 
ago, and for many years he was a great enthusiast and one of the leading 
cultivators of the day. He also despatched an expedition in search of 
them, published the biggest book yet devoted to them, and wrote and 
lectured about them. Such a career deserves more than a brief notice. 
His first connection with Orchids is thus described by Mr. Bateman 
with his own pen :—‘‘I was devoted to Orchids long before I knew what 
an Orchid was, indeed, the word itself was quite strange to me when I 
heard my mother apply it to a beautiful plant with spotted leaves and 
speckled flowers which I had gathered in a country lane and regarded with 
great admiration. ‘That,’ she said, ‘is an Orchis (O.muscula).’ I must 
have been then about eight years old, but I was more than eighteen when, 
the scene being shifted to Oxford, I steppedinto a nursery situated where 
Keble College now stands and kept by the veteran Fairburn, who had been 
gardener to Prince Leopold and Sir Joseph Banks. This sealed my fate! 
Presently Mr. Fairburn drew my attention to a curious plant with leathery 
leaves and several stout roots feeling their way amongst a number of small 
pieces of wood to which it was expected they would become permanently 
attached. ‘Here,’ he said, ‘is a piece of the famous Chinese air plant 
(Renanthera coccinea) which flowered under my care when gardener to H.R.H. 
Prince Leopold, at Bushey Park; would you like to see a drawing of it?’ 
“As you please.’ It was certainly a vision of beauty that Mr. Fairburn, 
opening a volume of the Botanical Magazine, t. 2997-2998—showed me, for 
here was a perfect portrait of the Chinese air plant, full size and correctly 
coloured. Of course I fell in love at first sight, and as Mr. F. only asked 
a guinea for his plant (high prices were not yet in vogue) it soon changed 
hands and travelled with me to Knypersley, when the Christmas holidays 
began. I had caught my Orchid, but how to treat it I knew not” (Veitch 
Man. Orch., x., p. 130). This, as Messrs. Veitch remark, was the beginning 
of the collection afterwards formed by Mr. Bateman at Knypersley Hall, 
in Cheshire. And, by the way, this nucleus of the collection brought 
further trouble upon young Bateman, then a gentleman commoner at 
