57 



as it would really only represent three. This plant was col- 

 lected on Ju^ie 21, but was first found on May i8, with two 

 others closely appressed to it, thus forminj; a little hunch, which 

 eventually bore four blooms, the largest number I have ever 

 found close together at Hatley, the plants as a rule being dis- 

 tributed singly, over a somewhat wide area, in direct contrast 

 to the conditions existing near Metis, where Mr. Terrill tells 

 me he fqiind as many as fifty blooms, in an area of about ten 

 square feet. Baldwin in his "Orchids of New England," 1884, 

 p. 50, speaks of Prof. Scribner, of Girard College, having once 

 found in Maine, as many as fifty plants in bloom, in a space not 

 a foot square. 



We now come to the last figure of all. No. 13, depicting a 

 plant growing in, and surrounded by a mass of white web-like, 

 or lace-like fungus growth — mycelium— which threads through 

 the earth and decaying wood — as can be seen — forming an alli- 

 ance with the orchid, which has been termed luxury-symbiosis, 

 an association that has been regarded as harmful to the orchid, 

 but which in reality is exactly the opposite, so far as I have been 

 able to judge. In connection with this most interesting phase 

 of orchid life, I quote the following from a paper by Prof. Oakes 

 Ames in the "Orchid Review," Aug. 1922, Entitled, "Observa- 

 tions on the Capacity of Orchids to Survive in the Struggle for 

 Existence," viz., "Another peculiarity of the Orchids that 

 inclines us to believe that decadence is not a purely hypothetical 

 condition is their dependence on mycorrhiza. It has been 

 claimed that the orchid seed, under natural conditions, is in- 

 capable of passing beyond the embryonic stage unless invaded 

 by the hyphae of a mycorrhizal fungus. When the seeds are 

 disseminated they lie dormant until association with the neces- 

 sary fungus is established. Whether or not there are numerous 

 exceptions to this peculiarity has little to do with the case from 

 the point of view taken by those authors who would have us 

 believe that the Orchids are on the decline as a biological group." 

 In several recent issues of the "Orchid Review," there have been 

 papers on this subject of luxury-symbiosis, experiments having 

 been carried out by several growers — of hothouse plants — in 

 which they have demonstrated that it is possible to rear seeds 

 successfully without the aid of any fungus whatsoever, but in 

 nature unadulterated, I have always found that where there is 



