>2 



KEPOKT OS THE 



D. rhodostoma, have yet flowered that have a parentage in which 

 neither nobile nor aureum participated. 



Crosses between species of phalaenopsis have been effected by 

 several operators, and capsules readily obtained. We only know, 

 however, of three instances besides our own where seedlings were 

 raised : the first by Dodds, in 1868, in the collection of Sir John 

 Greville Smith, at Ashton Court, near Bristol, but they were 

 afterwards lost; then Grey, gardener to the eminent orchid- 

 ologist, Mr. Coming, of Albany, New York, raised some seedlings, 

 but they, too, were afterwards lost ; and, lastly, Mr. Hollington, 

 at Enfield, who has, I believe, one seedling still living. Our own 

 experience with phalaenopsis dates from 1875 ; our first cross 

 was between P. arandidora and P. Schilleriana, bat with that and 

 with several succeeding crosses no results beyond the capsules 

 were obtained. The first capsule to yield seedlings was gathered 

 from P. grandidora x P. rosea ; a few of these are still living. 

 Then we obtained a few from P. amabilis and P. rosea, which 

 grew with more vigour than their elder brethren, and may not 

 improbably flower within the next two years. Still later we 

 obtained seedlings from P. SchUleriana x P. rosea, P. grandiflora 

 x P. Luddemanniana, and from two or three other crosses. 



Calanthe has probably received attention from more operators 

 than any other genus in the great Orchidean family, a circum- 

 stance that can be best accounted for by results being obtainable 

 in a shorter period than from any other genus. It may be that 

 calanthe being more terrestrial than epiphytal, there is a predis- 

 position to earlier maturity. The capsule of calanthe usually 

 ripens in three to four months, and the seed takes from two to 

 three months more to germinate ; the seedlings under favourable 

 circumstances will flower in the third or fourth year ; hence it 

 happened that, although seedlings cat tl eyas were in existence 

 before seedling calanthes, the first hybrid Orchid to flower was a 

 calanthe. Calanthe Yeitchii flowered for the first time in 1859, and 

 was at that time believed to be a true bigeneric cross, but such it 

 cannot be now regarded, as Mr. Bentham, in the " Genera 

 Plantarum," has referred the pollen parent Limatodes rosea to 

 calanthe. Not so, however, is Phaiiu irroratus, raised by Dominy 

 from P. grandifoliws X Calanthe nivalis, and P. irroratus purpureus, 

 raised by Seden from P. grandi/olius x Calanthe restita rubro-macu- 

 lata, and a third progeny that has not yet flowered, which was 



