OcTOBER, 1903.] THE ORCHID REVIEW. 315 
whether they are comparable to Mendel’s cases of dominance in 
Pisum. 
To another class of phenomena Millardet’s term of ‘‘ False Hybrids é 
has been applied. The most numerous of these are the various crosses that 
have been attempted by expert hybridists, at different times and in different 
countries, between Zygopetalum and several more or less remote genera, 
with the result that all the offspring have proved to be Zygopetalum pure 
and simple. Altogether more than 400 seedlings have been raised by 
Messrs. Veitch, of Chelsea, Heath, of Cheltenham, Bleu, of Paris, Ross; 
of Florence, Leon, of Bletchley, Orpet, of S. Lancaster, U.S.Ai* 
McWilliam, of Whitinsville, U.S.A., and the Rev. Horner, of Kirkby 
Lonsdale. The seed-parent in each case was Zygopetalum Mackayi (the 
reverse crosses being unsuccessful). The pollen used was from Odonto- 
glossum Pescatorei, O. crispum, O. grande, O. bictoniense, Oncidium 
tigrinum, Lycaste Skinneri, Lelia anceps, Calanthe vestita, and Vanda 
coerulea. All the 400 seedlings raised from these matings proved to be 
exactly like the seed-parent, Z. Mackayi. It is interesting to note, however, 
that the individuals raised from the same capsule varied in size and colour 
of the flowers in the same way that the seed-parent does in its native 
habitat. In other words, these false hybrids behaved just as if they had 
been raised from self-fertilised seeds, though self-fertilisation was impossible, 
as the pollinia were all carefully removed before the crosses were made. 
All these “ false hybrids ” are maternal in character, and it is apparently 
not a case of Mendelian dominance, for when Mr. McWilliam re-mated one 
of the “false hybrids” (Z. Mackayi X Lelia anceps) with pollen of a white 
L. anceps the result was still Z. Mackayi pure and simple. 
‘False hybrids” were known in other groups, including some whose 
characters were paternal, and cases were just coming to light in which a 
single character only behaves as a “‘ false hybrid,” the remaining characters 
being true hybrids, but whether all these phenomena had a common 
explanation it was difficult to say. So far as Zygopetalum was concerned 
it was suggested that the stimulas of fertilisation might induce a kind of 
parthenogensis, without actual union of the sexual elements, causing the 
“ false hybrid” to resemble the seed-parent in all characters, and it seemed 
quite feasible that an extension of it to individual gametes of either parent 
may ultimately explain all the phenomena of “ False Hybridism,” or 
“‘ Monolepsis,” as Bateson more precisely terms it. 
In conclusion, there is no doubt that the question of ‘ False 
Hybridism,” or Monolepsis, opens out a wide field for original research in 
many genera of plants and animals, and as our knowledge of normal 
inheritance increases the need for experiments into the nature of one-sided 
inheritance becomes more urgent and pressing. 
