I 5 
like, while the labora«u J . <y &n. ^ au einnui- 
tjy 
ogist who determine! to study human beings in a morgue ana to base his 
r*- 
studies of functions on tissues that have been long dead, loo little work 
has been done among orchids in the field, and surely the opportunity to 
see orchids year in and year out in their native haunts or at least under 
nearly natural conditions, opens the way to a wonderland of discovery. I 
would rather work out tho life history of one orchid than write descriptions 
of a century of them. 
We must know our species, that is true, but we should realize that 
in the final analysis myriads of poorly differentiated forms posing as 
species and countless genera based on slender threads of evolutionary evir f 
dence, are not helpful. Of the forty or more thousand genera that personal 
opinion has set before us some thirty thousand, I believe, are now regard¬ 
ed as cumbersome synonyms I Is further comment necessary? As I tell J3r. Sell- 
lechter, an alteration in the scale of the thermometer does not change the 
temperature and if we make the spaces between the degrees microscopically 
minute nobody can tell when the freezing point or the boiling point is 
reached and the thermometer defeats the very purpose for which it was con¬ 
trived. 
I am very much interested in your remarks adout Selenipedium Chioa. 
The specimen I referred to was collected on Anoon Hill, September 22, 1917 
by Ellsworth P. Killip at an altitude of 175 meters . I determined the 
specimen as S. Chica, but I am not satisfied with my determination. 
The seventh volume of Qrchidaceae will be sent to you on the day of 
publication. It will contain sections that will, I am sure, be of interest 
to you. I will also send you in a few days a copy of a little article I 
wrote for the October Orchid Review on the mycorrhiza of Sooayeara pubescens. 
Another paper that should interest you, is one on Spiranthes . This goes 
to you this afternoon. 
