i6o THE ORCHID WORLD. [April-May. igifi. 



Dendrobium Ainsworthii (aureum X nobile). 



Dendrobiu-M ENDOCHARIS. — I read with 

 much interest the notes upon this, pretty 

 hybrid Dendrobium in the February issue of 

 the Orchid World. I am pleased to inform 

 readers that it is still in cultivation. We have 

 at least four plants of it in the collection here. 

 Three of these are flowering freely at the 

 present time. It would be a great pity for it 

 to go out of cultivation. Though not a showy 

 Orchid, it is extremely pretty and, as stated, 

 very sweetly scented. It is an Orchid of 

 which I am very fond. I remember its advent 

 into the Orchid world very well. I have just 

 turned up Messrs. Jas. Veitch and Sons' 

 Catalogue of New Plants for 1881, and find it 

 therein described and offered. Its parentage 

 is given as D. japonicum x D. heterocarpum, 

 but this may be but a change of names. We 

 note here that its fragrance is most distinctly 

 detected in the early hours of the day. — fas. 

 Hudson, V.M.H., Gnnnershnry House. 



Cattleya Drapsiana.— Although Catt- 

 leya aurea has been a favourite species with 



the hybridist for many years, and has indeed 

 been the parent of numerous hybrids, it has 

 one point of rather an unsatisfactory nature, 

 and this is to be found in the comparative 

 weakness of the petals, which do not possess 

 the thick texture required to give them an 

 erect position. On this account other species 

 have been utilised to give the necessary 

 strength, and probably none has been more 

 successful than C. Harrisoniana, although it 

 is more likely that in the majority of cases its 

 near relation C. Loddigesii has been used on 

 account of its superior flower. In the well- 

 known Cattleya Mrs. Pitt (Harrisoniana x 

 aurea) the whole flower presents an evenly- 

 balanced appearance, the petals being 

 particularly noticeable by reason of their erect 

 and stiff nature. In Cattleya Drapsiana the 

 process has been carried a step further, the 

 parentage of this being C. Mrs. Pitt x C. 

 aurea, which has resulted in the production of 

 many very beautiful and varied hybrids. Our 

 coloured plate depicts Messrs. McBean's 

 variety, which is one of several much-prized 

 gems raised by them in their extensive 

 establishment at Cooksbridge, Sussex, 



