APRIL, 1908.] THE ORCHID REVIEW. 111 
with other plants, by a friend, the captain of a steamer trading with the 
East, and proves to be Phaius Blumei, of which Phaius grandifolius is 
sometimes considered a variety. That the sepals and petals should be 
yellowish-brown in front and invariably white behind is a curious character 
which often invites remark. 
Several good forms of Dendrobium nobile are sent from the collection of 
Walter Scott, Esq., Crieff Villa, Craghead, Durham, out of an importation 
purchased in 1906. They show the usual amount of variation, and three 
of them are selected as being above the average. One isa fine light form, 
and another very richly coloured, while the third is fairly typical in this 
respect. 
Other beautiful Dendrobiums are sent from the collection of H. Nye, 
Esq., Broadwater Manor, Worthing, by Mr. Bailey, including D. x Cybele 
elegans, D. X Blackianum, D. X Rainbow, D. nobile elegans, D. n. 
nobilius, and what we take to be two forms of the variable D. xX melano- 
discus, one having pedicels fully three inches long. Mr. Bailey remarks 
that Dendrobes do very well there, and are found most useful in keeping a 
good show of flowers during the first three months of the year. 
HYBRIDISING WITH STORED POLLEN. 
IN an article at page 35 Dr. Otto N. Witt raises the question of hybridising 
with stored pollen. Here we keep pollen frequently for many months with 
satisfactory results. A good method is to take a very small glass test tube, 
about an inch and a quarter long, then heat it in a spirit lamp flame to sterilise 
it. Next (as soon as cool enough) insert the pollen, placing it at the 
extreme end. All that is then required is to heat the open end, and as the 
glass softens, draw it up and completely seal the tube. Glass being a non- 
conductor, the heat does not conduct down to the end where the pollen is, 
and no injury results. When pollen is required for pollinating, the tube 
being of extremely thin glass is easily broken and the pollen extracted. 
Oakwood, Wylam-on-Tyne. N. C. Cookson. 
I was much interested in the remarks respecting ‘‘stored pollen” in 
recent issues of the Orchid Review. I have tried many ways of keeping 
pollen, and amongst them the keeping of flowers in water in a cellar, as 
suggested by Argus at page 65, but it was not satisfactory, the flowers 
getting damp and mouldy. A better plan seems to be to put the flowers in 
a cool room, in a receptacle without any water. They gradually shrivel up, 
but keep quite dry, and the pollen remains perfectly good for weeks. I do 
not know yet how long it will keep, but have used it satisfactorily after a 
month. By the wonderful provision of nature the pollen always seems the 
last part of the flower to perish. 
