Scptombei-, 191 v| THE ORCHID WORLD. 2H1 
SOME IDEAS ON ORCHID HYBRIDISATION. 
By J. M. BLACK. 
( Co7iti7uied from Vol. I/., pui^e jg.) 
COLOUR transmission of Cochlioda 
Noezliana and Cochlioda vulcanica. 
There are now hybrids between 
C. Noezhana and C. vulcanica respectively 
and most of the more important Odonto- 
glossum species, and we are, consequently, 
pretty well acquainted with their behaviour 
as parents in the first degree — how they 
overwhelm almost to extinction the identity 
of everything with which they are crossed. 
As a parent in the second degree there 
is little or no evidence yet of how C. vulcanica 
will act, but it has been demonstrated that the 
brilliant colour of C. Noezliana may be entirely 
lost in its secondary hybrids, a really remark- 
able fact considering that its primary hybrids 
are frequently richer in colour than itself. 
Although further great development may 
safely be predicted in the increasingly 
important Odontioda section of cool-house 
Orchids, it is going to be no question of 
crossing and raising with a fixed standard 
resulting ; in Cochlioda secondaries, to go no 
further, there is going to be a wide range 
of varietal forms — mostly poor, but with 
compensating good forms — wider extremes 
than are to be expected in secondaries within 
the limits of one genus. 
One of the most extraordinary species in 
its genus is Odontoglossum Harryanum. It 
is highly scented, richly coloured, and of a 
thick, fleshy substance, and with sepals of 
much fuller dimensions than the petals, and 
possessing a fine, square, strongly-charac- 
terised labellum that is a distinguishing 
feature in all its offspring, no matter how far 
removed ; but although the flower is large 
and carried in goodly numbers on a noble 
spike it can hardly claim to have ever been 
a really popular Orchid. O. Harryanum has 
been a victim to its own fine qualities. The 
very fleshiness, or substance, which the 
Orchid grower admires so much in his flowers 
has become a defect in Harryanum, imparting 
a lieaviness that causes the flowers to droop 
forward, and the colour has been laid on 
with such i)rodigality ;is t(^ impart a sense of 
cloudiness. Its remaining fault is that the 
flowers do not open fully, being more 
inclined to offer to view the outer and duller 
surface of the segments. Yet, paradoxically, 
the very imperfections of this Orchid have 
made of it the best of parents. Having a 
fine constitution, and accommodating itself 
willingly to be either seed-bearer or pollen 
parent, it has taken a predominant part in 
revolutionising the colour, size and vigour of 
the inmates of the modern cool Orchid house. 
Among Odontoglossums the two most 
finished products of Nature found in a wild 
state are O. Pescatorei and O. crispum. In 
importations of the latter a good many 
blotched forms have been found, no doubt 
mostly, if not all, of hybrid origin, while 
among importations of the former very few 
spotted or blotched forms have appeared, 
presumably because of its purer descent. 
The colour on the Pescatorei however, 
whether on the labellum or other segments, 
is invariably rich, a kind of solid blue-purple, 
and hybrids from it inherit this colour gladly. 
O. crispum blotchings are more generally 
chocolates and merging into terra-cotta, in 
which we may surmise the influence of 
luteo-purpureum, while others more nearly 
approach the maculations sparingly present in 
Pescatorei, but always some shades less in 
density, and here we may surmise the 
influence of Hunnewellianum, for among the 
latter an occasional variety has a violet 
bloom over the chocolate. The richer colour 
of Pescatorei although sparingly in existence 
in itself, and usually localised in the labellum, 
is a factor — if I may be permitted the use of the 
word — which seems eagerly anxious to escape 
frcm the narrow confines assigned to it in 
this species. A comparison between the 
hybrids derived from O. Pescatorei and those 
derived from O. crispum will nearly always 
disclose a superiority in colour in favour of 
the former, the shape in the aggregation being 
better as well, and this notwithstanding that 
