Order Hymenomycetes.' Tribe Vileati? 



PiATE III. 



MERULIUS LACHRYMANS, 



Hie Dry-rot. 



Gen. Char. Hymenium veiny or sinuoso-plicate. Folds not distinct from the flesh of the pileus, forming 

 unequal angular or flexuous pores, not tubes. 



Spec. Char. M. lachrymans ; effused, large, yellow, ferruginous or deep orange ; margin white, tomentose ; 

 folds large, poroso-siuuate. 



Merulius lachrymans, TTulfen, Greville, Fries. 

 Boletus lachrymans, Soweri?/, Withering, Furton. 

 Merulius destruens, Fersoon. 



The ravages of Dry-rot, whether in the noblest ships of the Navy, or behind the wainscot of the Httle 

 back parloui, are unfortunately too weU known, having in recent times occasioned universal consternation ; 

 the practical wisdom of the builder, as well as the science of the arcliitect, have been foiled by a Pungus, 

 and the medicaments of the chemist employed to cure disease, which it would appear all timber " is heir to." 

 Yet many old houses, composed almost entirely of wood, remain intact, their beams and wainscots enduring 

 tlirough centuries, never having betrayed a symptom of that latent evil, which now often demands the sub- 

 sitution of entirely new materials, before a mansion has been completed. On admiration being expressed of 

 the oaken floors &c., in the ancient part of Knowle, "Yes," said the house-keeper, "but you cannot 

 carry a lighted candle through these rooms " ! Doubtless the horror we of the nineteenth century have of 

 draughts, is one of the causes of mischief, as far as the erection of houses is concerned, but ventilation, 

 though it may dry up mere boarding, could scarcely be sufBcient to season a beam wliich had the rudiments 

 of Dry-rot at heart. The ancient mansions of England were built with trees cut upon the estate with a view 

 to their destination, and stripped of their bark in the spring, in preparation for being cut down the next 

 winter f gentlemen in felUng their old oaks, had not an eye to the tan-pit, wliich the timber-merchant has 

 since found so considerable a source of profit. " Happy were it for our timber if some invention of tanning 

 without so much bark were become universal, that trees being more early felled, the timber might be better 

 seasoned and conditioned for its various uses " *. 



The Romans, who took Httle account of the bark, cut the tree half tlu-ough in spring, in preparation 

 for taking it do\vn the succeeding winter. Vitruvius, Columella, Theophrastus, PHny, &c., have left many 

 directions for guidance as to tunes and seasons, some of which may now cause a smile, but because we do not 

 believe with them, that the age of the moon had any influence on the timber, we are not justified in 

 throwing over the results of their experience as to its durabiHty. " They considered the proper season to 



' From vtir^v, a membrane, and fivxrjr, Ti fungus. ^ Yxom pileus, a cap. 



3 This is, or was till lately, the system in the Forest of Dean. 



* Evelyn's ' Sylva ', vol. ii. p. 208 ; by " more early felled ", Evelyn means early in the year : January, or February. 



