﻿THE ORCHID REVIEW. 



the scapes usually carrying from six to ten flowers, which have pale 

 greenish-yellow or straw-coloured sepals and petals, and the lip having a 

 few reddish-brown spots and lines near the apex" (Gard. Mag., 1904, 

 p. 562). Curiously enough, the plant was described in the very first issue 

 of this work (vol. i., p. 22), and figured in the same volume (p. 361, fig. 18). 

 We were rather puzzled at the time with the characters of the hybrid, and 

 remarked : " The plant bears a considerable resemblance to C. giganteum, 

 but the shape of the flower is somewhat modified, and the colour of the 

 sepals and petals pale greenish-yellow, or nearly straw-coloured." The 

 influence of C. eburneum was not particularly obvious, but the record 

 seemed sufficiently precise, and we accepted it. But the later records 

 confirm the suspicion, and the characters of the hybrid are much more in 

 accordance with the theory that C. Mastersianum was the pollen parent, 

 and Mr. Young has had the advantage of being able to compare the hybrids 

 mentioned side by side in a living state, which seems conclusive. It may be 

 added that a coloured figure of this hybrid has appeared in Reichenbachia 

 (ser. 2, ii., p. 61, t. 75), and that C X Mantinii was figured in the present 

 work two years ago (x., p. 361, fig. 37). 



THE DAY COLLECTION OF ORCHID DRAWINGS. 



It is well known that the late John Day, Esq., during his lifetime, made a 

 fine collection of Orchid drawings, which were retained by him when his 

 collections were sold, and that after his death they were retained in the 

 possession of his sister, Mrs. Wolstenholme. In figuring Dendrobium 

 Williamsoni in the last issue of the Botanical Magazine (t. 7974), Mr. 

 Hemsley makes an interesting allusion to the collection. Speaking of the 

 history of the plant in question, as being discovered in Assam by Mr. W. J. 

 Williamson, a nephew of Mr. Day, to whom a living plant was sent, which 

 flowered in the latter gentleman's notable collection in 1869, and was 

 described by Reichenbach, he remarks that " in March, 1887, an unnamed 

 plant flowered at Kew, and Mr. R. A. Rolfe identified it with Dendrobium 

 Williamsoni from Reichenbach's description, but the type being locked up 

 at Vienna, absolute certainty was unattainable. In 1902, Mrs. Wolsten- 

 holme, sister of the late Mr. Day, presented that gentleman's most 

 valuable collection of some thousands of drawings of cultivated Orchids, 

 and Mr. Rolfe's identification of the plant was confirmed by a drawing of 

 the original D. Williamsoni. It may be added here that Day's drawings 

 include a considerable number of the types of Reichenbach's species 

 founded on cultivated specimens, so that the senseless provisions of his will 

 are, to some extent, nullified." 



