﻿THE ORCHID REVIEW. 



[July, .904. 



L^LIO-CATTLEYA x ELEGANS TRUE FROM SEED. 



A most interesting flower of Ladio-cattleya X elegans has been sent by M. 

 Ch. Maron, Brunoy, France. M. Maron states that it is from a seedling 

 plant, and was obtained from a " good dark form in the way of Turneri, 

 crossed by itself." We have not seen the parent form, but M. Maron's 

 description fits the seedling very well, and it may be fairly described as 

 having come true from seed. In not one single character of the flower can 

 we rind any tract' 1 >f reversion to either of the parent species, which, as is 

 well known, art- remarkably distinct in almost every character, and there- 

 fore the more liable to show traces of reversion had such taken place. 

 There are just a few very minute purple dots on the petals, as is often seen 

 in forms of this hybrid. We should like to see a flower from the actual 

 plant which bore the seed, if such is possible, and also one from any 

 other seedling which M. Maron may have. It is not stated whether there 

 is more than one. Coming at a time when the Mendelian hypothesis is 

 engaging so much attention, it is a piece of important evidence that hybrids 

 may and do reproduce themselves true from seed. Here was an 

 opportunity for a re-combination of the "unit-characters" of the parent 

 species, but there is no evidence that such has taken place. 



R. A. R. 



AN ORCHID AND A PHYLLOCACTUS IN A BEES' NEST. 



We have just dropped across the following curious note : — 



" A short time since one of our native collectors brought in a large 

 plant of Epidendrum Schomburgkii which was growing in the nest of a 

 species of Trigona, one of the stingless bees, of which there are several 

 species in Trinidad. The nest appears to be composed of propolis mixed 

 with some kind of clay and woody matter, made into irregular chambers 

 by the bees. . . . The roots of the Orchid appear to permeate the mass, 

 and the aerial roots surround it, holding it together for the mutual benefit 

 of bees and plant. The Cactus is a straggling kind of Phyllocactus bearing 

 white flowers, which open during the night, as do many of our Cactea?." — 

 J. H. Hart, in Trinidad Bulletin, 1902, p. 458. 



We do not know whether these bees remain in a nest for several 

 successive years, for, if not, a more appropriate title would have been " A 

 Bees' Nest in an Orchid." The Orchid at all events would be several 

 years old. It would be interesting to know whether the occurrence is at 

 all common, as in the case of ants tenanting the hollow pseudo-bulbs of 

 Schomburgkia and Diacrium. 



