392 REPORT OF THE CONFERENCE ON GENETICS. 
ON THE GERMINATION OF ORCHIDS. 
3y No&n BERNARD, of the University, Caen, France. 
On the roots of orchids, whether wild or cultivated, are found fungi 
which, living inside the cells of the cortex or of the tangled root- 
fibres, form lumps like balls of thread. This fact is well known, 
easy to observe, and furnishes one of the best examples of those 
associations, very common in nature, between plants and micro- 
organisms. 
I have attempted to estimate the degree of the close connection of 
this association: the degree of the dependence that an orchid and its 
Fra. 90.—Proressor Noitn BERNARD. 
fungus may have on one another. I will now explain the results derived 
from some of my experiments. 
The fungi of orchids can live apart from the roots in which they 
generally lodge. If one cuts off a small fragment from a contaminated 
root and sows the fragment in a sterilised tube on a suitable nourishing 
medium, the fungus develops freely. It can be transplanted from tube 
to tube without losing its power to grow. I have such pure cultures 
of fungi living after four years without their having been returned to 
the orchids. 
In these cultures one easily recognises the orchid fungi by certain 
characteristics, especially because they continue to show here and there 
