FUNGI AND WOOD-BORING INSECTS. 75 
specimen of Flammula sapineus. The amount of rotting 
material in any one burrow would not more than fill an ordinary 
teaspoon, yet the size of the specimens growing in the holes 
was about the same as that of those found on the ground and 
agrees well with published measurements. Frequently there 
were several growing out of the same hole, but in such - 
cases their size was apt to be less than where there was but 
a single one. This, one would naturally expect because of 
the limited amount of food material. The two species 
never grew together-in the same hele although they very 
often grew in adjacent ones only a fewinches apart. Most 
of the specimens simply filled the hole with a mat of 
mycelium at the base of their stem, but in some cases the 
stem was swollen into a sort of shoulder which extended 
over the edges of the hole so that the latter was completely 
hidden. Small fruiting bodies of Claudopus nidulans were 
found occasionally inside the holes. 
There are undoubtedly many similar instances of fungi 
growing in the burrows of wood-boring insects, although 
there are very few published accounts concerning them. 
Probably the most unique instance of fungi which either 
habitually or occasionally grow in such situations is that of 
the «* Ambrosia’’ fungi.* Certain of the wood-boring 
beetles prepare tiny beds and plant the spores. So far as 
is now known these beetles feed exclusively on the fruiting 
portions of the fungi. These beds are located in the in- 
terior of the beetle galleries and are very carefully attended 
to. The fungi are very small and are saprophytes. Poly- 
porus volvatus Pk. is said by von Schrenk f to grow on 
conifers in holes made by the bark-boring beetle Den- 
droctonus sp. The spores lodge in the holes and germinate. 
The wood is soon rotted by the mycelium of the fungus 
and the fruiting bodies are formed at the entrances of the 
holes. It is also stated by von Schrenk that this fun- 
* Bull. Div. Ent., U. S. Dept. Agric. n. s. 7: 9-31. (1897.) 
+ Bull. Div. Veg. Phys. & Path., U. S. Dept. Agric. 25: 13-14. (1900.) 
