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290 THE ORCHID REVIEW. (OCTOBER, 1906. 
we not assured that the re-discovered plant was one which Mr. Fairrie set 
no particular store by, though he was extremely proud of the other? [t 
was a disquieting circumstance, especially as the new claimant was 
unquestionably Cypripedium hirsutissimum, which all the books agree did 
not appear until two years after the painting in question was made. The 
explanation is interesting, though it leaves other matters unexplained. 
There is no doubt which of the two species was named after Mr. Fairrie by 
Dr. Lindley, and it is equally certain that both existed in the collection of 
the former. But can it really be that Mr. Fairrie never knew which was the 
one named in his honour? If this be not the case there remains the 
question how and when the name was transferred to the one now known as 
C. hirsutissimum. At least this is how I read the last interesting but 
rather mysterious chapter in the history of this much discussed plant. 
Something new is always turning up in Orchid culture, and that, I 
think, is one of the reasons why it isso fascinating. We have now the 
question of Fungus Co-operation in Orchid-roots, so carefully investigated 
by M. Noel Bernard, and also illustrated by him at page zor. It would 
appear that if the particular fungus is absent the seeds fail to develop 
beyond a certain stage, but if present they progress steadily from the com- 
mencement. The inference is that the young Orchid cannot avail itself of 
the food supply until it has been in some way prepared by the fungus. 
But while the Orchid seedling seems unable to get on without the fungus, 
the latter can get along without the Orchid, for M. Bernard stated at the 
tecent Hybridisation Conference (see p. 265) that it could be grown in 
sterilised tubes on a suitable nourishing medium, and transplanted from 
tube to tube without losing its power to grow—in fact he had pure cultures 
of spores living after four years of separation from the Orchid roots. Here 
then is one of the “tame” fungi which Mr. Gurney Wilson (p. 155), Ws 
speaking about, and of which Mr. Black enquired (p. 117) :— ‘‘ Could - 
this fungus be cultivated and handed round, so that we could ‘ inoculate 
a seed pan as occasion required?” The question has now been answered 
in the affirmative, and M. Bernard thinks that it would be sufficient to 
Propagate these cultures so as to give all cultivators facilities for ge™ 
minating Odontoglossum seeds as readily as those of Cattleya. He ha 
found three species of these Orchid fungi, but he had not yet named them. 
I thought the nomenclature question must come in somewhere. 
But there is one phase of the subject I have omitted to mention. It 
would appear that the kindly fungus sometimes gets the worst of the arrans* 
ment, because after assisting the Orchid seedling over his difficulties for 4 
time, the latter “ suddenly asserts itself, falls upon the fungus, and devours 
