THE 



ORCHID 



WORLD. 



Odontoglossum H I s 

 Majesty. — This handsome 

 hybrid, of which the 

 parentage is unfortunately 

 unrecorded, received an 

 Award of Merit at the Royal 

 Horticultural Society, April 

 2nd, igi2, when exhibited by 

 Lieut.-Col. Sir George Hol- 

 ford, K.C.V.O. (gr. Mr. H. G. 

 Alexander), Westonbirt. 

 The spike carried thirteen 

 flowers, the lowest one of 

 which is the subject of our 

 illustration. The good 

 culture imparted to this plant 

 has produced flowers of thick 

 substance on which the 

 chocolate-purple blotches so 

 much prized in the various 

 Odontoglossum hybrids are 

 developed to a high degree. 



^ ^ ^ 



Ophrys arachnites.- -! have had under 

 observation for several years a plant of 

 Ophrys arachnites growing in the south of 

 France. I found the plant in igo8, and the 

 flower spike of that year was sent to M. Camu.s, 

 of Paris, who wrote that he intended to give 

 a very detailed note upon it in his Meno- 

 graphie dcs Orchidees d' En rope. On April 

 4th, 1909, the plant produced a very similar 

 spike ; the lowest flower never opened, the 

 second had two lips, the third and fourth had 

 each one lip and three anthers, the fifth and 

 sixth had each one lip and two anthers. On 

 March 25th, 1910, I found the plant with 

 abnormal flowers, but it had not vigour enough 

 to open them fully ; perhaps this was owing 

 to drought. It only carried three flowers, but 

 I could see that each of them had three 

 anthers. I did not see the plant in 191 1, but 

 this year it is apparently on the down grade, 

 and only had two flowers, the lower of which 

 had been eaten by a snail. The upper flower 

 is unlike any borne by the plant in 1908, 1909, 

 or 1 910, for it has a broad dorsal sepal (?), 

 and two anthers facing each other, but no 



labellum. The plant is in a favourable 

 position, and other normal specimens are 

 flourishing close by, but it seems likely that 

 this plant will not be able to flower at all 

 next season. — IF. H. Si. Qiiiiitin. 



U U %^ 



Ophrys aranifera. — Of this, the Spider 

 Ophrys, Darwin examined fourteen flowers, 

 in none were both pollinia, and in three alone 

 was one pollinium removed. Hence this 

 species, he said, is but little visited by insects 

 in England. In parts of Italy it is even less 

 visited, for Delpino states that in Liguria 

 hardly one flower out of 3,000 sets a capsule, 

 though near Florence rather more capsules 

 are produced. The flowers, however, must 

 be occasionally visited and fertilised by 

 insects, for Delpino found pollen masses on 

 the stigmas of some flowers which still 

 retained both their own pollinia. A curious 

 flower spike of O. aranifera has been sent 

 from the south of France to W H. St. Quin- 

 tin, Esq., of Scampston Hall, who kindly 

 forwards it on to us. The lower flower 



