282 
THE ORCHID WORLD. 
[September, 1913. 
Pescatorei has a smaller and thinner flower. 
Of course, a statement of this kuid is meant 
to convey what is true in a general sense, 
and freely allows for what would appear to 
be contradictory evidence in an individual 
hybrid or particular strain of hybrids. 
Compare O. Rolfeae (Pescatorei x Harry- 
anum) with crispo-Harryanum (crispum x 
Harryanum) ; Ossulstonii (crispo-Harryanum 
X Pescatorei), or Lambeauianum (Rolfeae x 
crispum) with amabile (crispum x crispo- 
Harryanum) ; Odontioda Vuylstekeas (C. 
Noezliana x O. Pescatorei) with Bradshawiee 
(C. Noezliana x O. crispum), and the influence 
of the peculiar colour of Pescatorei will be 
apparent. 
The mystery surrounding the lineage of so 
many of the blotched " crispums," which were 
greedily and justifiably used in the beginning 
by hybridists, prepares one for many seeming 
inconsistencies in the offspring from these 
sources ; and yet, perhaps, the best illustration 
of the powerful colour of Pescatorei is to 
be found in many varieties of O. ardentis- 
simum and O. eximium, the primary and 
secondary hybrids between that species and 
Pescatorei. 
Odontioda, a happy and euphonious word, 
compounded from Odontoglossum and Coch- 
lioda, suggests, as it implies, a hybrid con- 
taining" a generous part each of Cochlioda 
and Odontoglossum ; but the few secondary 
Cochlioda hybrids it yet has been permitted 
me to flower have sorely tried my conscience 
with the name, and I can imagine in the near 
future good, bad, and indifferent hybrids 
labelled Odontioda with no trace at all of 
Cochlioda on the surface, and that, after all, 
IS where it should be. I am not writing this 
by way of discouragement, for, as I have 
already said, there are to be compensations, 
and the Orchid hybridist who is not an 
optimist has missed his true vocation. The 
best secondary Cochlioda Noezliana hybrid 
that it has been my fortune to see is Royal 
Gem, the result of crossing Odontioda 
Vuylstekes with Odontoglossum ardentis- 
simum, and the worst, Latona, the result of 
crossing Odontioda Bradshawias with Odonto- 
glossum crispo-Harryanum ; but I know that 
there have been good varieties from the 
latter cross, and I may presume that there 
have been bad in the former, and it is more 
than likely that neither the best nor the 
worst has come under my notice. Many of 
the Odontiodas that have been raised from 
the Cochlioda species other than Noezliana, 
in comparison are wholly indifferent, and 
although they each in turn may have proved 
a mild sensation when Odontiodas were 
novelties they are likely with time to further 
recede in consequence. Many of them are 
elegant and, grown into strong plants, make 
graceful and useful sprays, but they fall short 
of those essentials which distinguish the 
choice Orchid. An Orchid flower when it 
touched the diminutive cannot be a choice 
Orchid, and although it may have many 
admirable qualities, and may even be a 
stepping-stone to something better, it will 
rarely get beyond the doubtful compliment 
of having botanical interest. 
That we shall yet have Odontiodas as 
large as Odontoglossum crispum and with the 
colour of Cochlioda Noezliana is not open to 
much doubt, and it is also quite conceivable 
that the above species of Cochlioda with the 
assistance of O. crispum, O. Harryanum and 
O. Pescatorei will be sufficient to produce it. 
It IS unlikely that it will be produced in 
numbers, but more as an occasional and 
exceptional form, such as is hoped for, and 
sometimes got, when the coveted feature is 
some crossing removed. 
At Chessington, Christchurch Road, 
Streatham, as these notes are being written, 
there is an instructive object lesson on the 
colour tendencies of Cochlioda Noezliana and 
C. vulcanica. There are in flower Odontioda 
Charlesworthii (C. Noezliana x O. Harry- 
anum), O. beechensis (C. N. x O. Rolfeae), 
and O. Sanderae (C. N. x O. percultum) ; also 
Odontioda Thwaitesii (C. vulcanica x O. 
Harryanum), O. Isis (C. vulcanica x O. Rolfeae) 
and O. Stella (C. vulcanica x O. percultum). 
There are thus three C. Noezliana hybrids 
and three C. vulcanica hybrids composed 
respectively of the same constituent Odonto- 
glossum species. Both the Odontioda 
Charlesworthii and the O. Thwaitesii are 
