THE ORCHID REVIEW. 251 
this respect, and it is exceedingly difficult to account for it. Equally so in 
the matter of malformation in growth and flowers, which another corres- 
pondent writes about, ‘“‘ The growths of C. Gaskelliana are curled up and 
do not grow.” In the first place, I would advise him to make quite sure he 
has not got the Cattleya fly (see Calendar for February), and, secondly, I may 
say that the new growths of Orchids do sometimes come crippled, and from 
no apparent cause, even under the most favourable cultural conditions, 
though fortunately the percentage is small. I have at the present time 
under my care a Cattleya labiata that makes a malformed pseudobulb every 
year, and this time it is making a bulb and flower sheath without a leaf. 
Under good treatment the plants in most cases come right in time. The 
most curious instance of malformation in the flower that I have had to deal 
with is a Cattleya Mendelii, which produces a flower, or rather part of a 
flower, every year alike. The flower is simply two large petals, nothing 
more, though the growth of the plant looks perfect, and is very healthy. 
(We have seen numerous plants out of an importation affected in this 
way, and were told that the majority were alike. Also that they had been 
collected from some cultivated orange trees—on which presumably the seed 
had been sown—though we hesitate to accept the inference that the trees 
were the cause of the deformity.—Ep.] 
The proper place for an Orchid to push new growth is from the base of 
the pseudobulb ; but supposing a very rare and valuable plant should meet 
with an accident, or by any means die at its base, while the pseudobulbs 
above remain green, there is still hope to save it, and it should not be cast 
away until all life is gone, as sometimes small growths push from the sides, ° 
and sometimes from the apex of the pseudobulb. I once remember seeing a 
plant of Lycaste Skinneri alba make a tiny bulb from the top of an old one, 
which afterwards grew into a nice plant. A reader has just sent me some 
old Cattleya pseudobulbs having nice healthy young plants shooting out 
from the sides, which is another instance of the vitality of an Orchid when 
many would suppose it dead. Of course these offshoots are very small, and 
a long time may elapse before they make a strong plant, but a little of a 
rare thing is better than losing it altogether. 
Ants are very troublesome little insects, and generally select a plant 
where seed is sown to make their nests. T hey are very fond, too, of extract- 
ing a sweet sticky matter from the tender flower spikes and leaves. Phale- 
nopsis plants are favourite with them, and it is no unusual thing to see 
leaves with their outside edges of a yellowish sickly appearance, caused by 
the ants continually at work. I have tried various means for their extermi- 
nation, including poisoning and trapping, but without any very decided 
success. I now have recourse to ‘*‘ Killmright insecticide,” and mix up a 
solution of about half a pint to four gallons of water, and with it syringe the 
stages and other tracks once a day. They soon tire of travelling over this, 
