ible authority.

I cannot go into detail; these remarks are designed only to call attention
to the subject. Not all the bigeneric hybrids mentioned have flowered; and
at the present time we have learned enough to be aware that possibly one
parent will be ignored by the offspring--that a seedling of Epidendrum
crossed with Dendrobium, for example, will bloom a pure Epidendrum or a
pure Dendrobium of the species used; which in itself is sufficiently
strange. But seedlings have actually been produced in every case which I
have named. It is one of the fixed rules in biology that the offspring of
different species must be barren--otherwise the parents are not truly
species--and that different genera will not breed at all. But in most
instances which have been brought to the test as yet, hybrid orchids of
different species prove fertile, and some bigeneric crosses yield a
progeny at least. What follows? Evidently that the genera or the species
are not really distinct--in the cases given. Must we admit, then, that a
Dendrobium of the Himalayas (crystallinum) does not differ generically
from an Epidendrum of Mexico (radicans)?

This is not the place to argue it out; nor, in truth, would there be much
profit in arguing the question while the number of facts to be adduced is
still so small that error is not improbable. I hope I have made it clear
that the hybridisation of orchids is the most fascinating of botanic
studies at this time; which is all I have in view.

But professional 'growers' are not likely to help the cause of science
much--no blame to them either. They cannot afford to make experiments
which demand a great deal of time, and increasing attention, for years,
from the most highly-paid of their staff--too probably remaining a dead
loss after no small portion of a lifetime has been spent in bringing the
produce to flower. A man of business must make such crosses as are most
likely to pay in the shortest time--easy species, big, highly coloured.
Under the best conditions he must wait three to six years, perhaps ten, or
even more. Evidently the most valuable hybridisations in a scientific
point of view would be those least likely to succeed; all would be
doubtful, all would require a long term of years, and most would not
'sell' in the end probably. Such work is for amateurs.

I can mention only a few of the Cypripediums here which seem most notable,
and it will always remain dubious whether I have chosen the best ex