THE ORCHID. REVIEW. 205 
DIES ORCHIDIANZ. 
Notes on the Temple Show would now read something like matters of 
ancient history, but there is one matter on which I have a word or two to 
say, especially as last month I was completely crowded out. On one or 
two previous occasions I have alluded to the culture of. Odontoglossum 
crispum in Belgium and England. It was therefore with the greater 
pleasure that I observed the group of twenty-five plants staged at the 
Temple by M. Vincke-Dujardin, of Bruges, which enabled a comparison 
to be made. What most struck me was the length of the racemes, and the 
number of flowers borne on each. One had no less than twenty flowers, 
two had sixteen, one fifteen, and two fourteen, which latter was the highest 
number observed in any English collection. But taking the flowers 
individually the difference was barely appreciable. The best flower I could 
find in the group measured four inches from tip to tip of the petals, which 
attained a maximum breadth of seventeen lines. Now O. crispum Rex 
exhibited by Baron Schréder was of precisely the same size, and the petals 
were only a line narrower, because less deeply toothed. And other flowers 
were seen of the same dimensions. 
And this brings me back to the flower of Odontoglossum crispum, 
mentioned at page 99. I was thinking of Baron Schréder’s splendid O. 
crispum apiatum when writing, and the dimensions were taken from a 
figure in the Gardener’s Chronicle. Since then I have been informed that 
the figure in question is enlarged, and have been able to verify the state- 
ment by comparison with a flower. I mention the fact in explanation, and 
in order to put others on their guard, and I do not hesitate to say that no 
such explanation should have been necessary in such a case. 
And now, to return to M. Vincke’s exhibit, the question is how were 
those long spikes produced? ‘This increased vigour is evidently due to 
increased food supply, and if no manure is used, as has been stated, an 
explanation might be sought in the water supply. Apart from the longer 
racemes I do not consider the plants healthier or better grown than those 
sent by Baron Schréder, for it must be borne in mind that choice, highly- 
coloured forms are generally less vigorous than more ordinary ones under 
the same treatment. I am told that M. Vincke had still finer examples at 
Antwerp, but am content to deal with what I saw. What is the cause of 
this increased vigour? A solution of the problem is invited. 
Some of our records, I fear, are getting a little mixed. Picking up a 
contemporary the other day, I observed a list of new species, varieties, and 
hybrids, and among them Promenza microptera as a new species, Masdevallia 
x glaphyrantha and M. x Parlatoreana as new hybrids, and Aérides 
