440 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCTKTY. 



mysterious results, and then only after years of waiting, ♦when the 

 results are self-evident. 



Although this theory gives us only two whites (which to the eye 

 are identical), there are also flowers admittedly white, which to the 

 eye are different. 



In the book, " E^pertoire de Conleurs," obtained in the offices of the 

 E.H.S., there are shown (amongst others) Pure White, Snow White, 

 Milk White, and Cream White, which when viewed side by side are 

 distinct from each other, but when viewed separately each of them 

 would pass as white; but as their component parts must differ (or we 

 could not detect any difference), so must the factor which they each 

 possess, and so we are faced with a complication which might unite 

 not two, but several factors. 



Further, if the white flower " A " combines with the white flower 

 "B" to produce another white flower, and will also produce white 

 with a white flower called " B," then if " A " and " D " are mated 

 the progeny should still be white. 



Now, if "A," "B," and "D" represent individual plants 

 only, the scope is very limited. 



If, however, they represent a class, one foresees danger in making 

 use of the theory. 



Cattleya Trianae alba is notoriously inconstant, and the plant in 

 one collection does not necessarily contain the same factor as the 

 plant in another collection, unless it is a sub-division of the same plant. 

 Theories are sometimes formed upon the evidence of others, and in 

 getting evidence together one has to rely upon the judgment of others, 

 who, without the least intention of misleading, may record a flower as 

 white which is not white. 



So- much does the opinion as to what is white vary that one sees 

 plants in flower exhibited as white which are distinctly flushed with 

 colour upon the sepals and petals. 



One recognizes of course that there must be factors, for without 

 them there could be no products, but the suggestion that the whole 

 range of whites in Orchids is covered by one of two factors appears 

 to me to be hypothetical. 



The theory that " an albino Orchid is distinguished from a coloured 

 one by the absence of purple sap " is one which carries us beyond 

 the sphere of white Orchids, and seems to have been propounded in 

 order to account for the vagaries of Cypripedium insigne Sanderae, 

 C. Lawrenceanum Hyeanum, &c., which have been classed as albinos. 



This definition may serve a useful purpose in assisting the Cypri- 

 pedium raiser, but, as it includes yellows and greens, it appears to me 

 to cover too much ground to be useful to those raisers who are 

 endeavouring to obtain white Orchids from seed. 



When one contemplates mating one Orchid with another the mind 

 looks forward and imagines that the colours one sees in the proposed 

 parents will be sO' blended together as to produce in the flowers of 

 the seedlings the same results as are produced by the blending of 



