75 
2 
fic. I cannot imagine where the name Boothii comes from, unless it 
is a change of name, improperly made, from Boothianum , a speoies of 
Spidendrum described by iindley. Furthermore, I do not know of any 
Hldoma .Boothil Schltr., and this I mention, because one does not 
describe a variety until a speoies has been recognized. The name 
Kidama was proposed for .Bolden dr urn Ottonis Reiehb.f. by Britton and 
Millspaugh in the Bahama f lor a. I am surprised that Schlechter 
■ ’if , '' • " ' ■ . ''!,{ ;S',\ 
should have taken up tjitis name, an it seems to me that the type 
species of the genus, that is, Bpidendrum Ott onis Reichb,f, is with 
great difficulty separated from Bpidendrum. However, there is a mod¬ 
ern school of botanists of which Sohleohter is an example who cannot 
tolerate a genus after it reaeshes certain proportions. It is charac¬ 
teristic of them that thejrsplit a large gonna, no matter how loudly 
offended affinities may cry out against separation. (Cf. Orchidaceae 
vol« VII, page 130, under Spiranthes.) This splitting may seem to be 
warranted when a small section of the genus is under consideration, 
but when the genus is taken in its entirety the characters relied on 
for splitting break down horribly. This is true .in Bpidan&rum to an 
astonishing extent. I have been working for a year attempting to just¬ 
ify the segregations proposed in Bpidendrum, but I have failed to 
put my finger on a single character that will hold, and wo do not con¬ 
sider a genus that rests on only a single character as of much value, 
Lindley went all over this ground in his Folia Orehidacea, and in 
Walpers’s Annales, Reichenbach joined Cattleya to Bpidendrum. We have 
before us a great, successful genus that still seems to be in a state 
of flux. We do not alter its evolutionary significance by wrenching 
it asunder. I advocate retaining it in its long traditional sense. 
Soon I expect to come out with a paper on this subject; In fact the 
manuscript is ready, but I am waiting for certain developments before 
