t)0 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN. 



The work of investigation has been undertaken primarily 

 on account of the value of the knowledge which might 

 accrue through the study of the chromogenic fungi or 

 bacteria which are concerned in the color reactions which 

 take place in stained lumber; yet, on the other hand, the 

 economic value of the work has not been lost sight of, 

 owing to the loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars to 

 the lumber industry each year due to the lowering of the 

 grade of lumber in piles through the rapid action of many 

 tiny wood staining fungi. 



In the study of the fungus flora of the lumber pile a 

 large number of forms have been observed not all of which 

 discolor the substratum upon which they grow. Attention 

 has been given not only to those which penetrate wood 

 deeply and stain it, but also to those which discolor it only 

 superficially. 



In the isolation and culture of the fungi herein de- 

 scribed, recourse was had to the most careful bacterio- 

 logical methods, such as are described by Dr. Erwin F. 

 Smith * in his excellent monograph on " Bacteria in rela- 

 tion to plant diseases." In a number of instances new 

 conidial stages of fungi have been discovered, and in every 

 instance the relation of the new form to the older known 

 forms has been repeatedly established by starting with the 

 newly discovered stage and following the fungus through 

 all its known stages and back again to the beginning. The 

 saprophytic nature of the forms studied made it possible to 

 .start with single colonies on a poured plate of agar medium 

 and make transfer cultures to test tubes of sterile wood or 

 other media. Each fungus was grown upon a number of 

 kinds of wood, as well as upon potato, rice, bean, sweet 

 potato, and other similar media in tubes, in addition to 

 cultures upon agar media made from wood and other veg- 

 etable decoctions. 



In order to better establish varietal and specific charac- 



* Smith, E. F. Bacteria in relation to plant diseases. 1. (1905). 



