^56 



Bulletin 19S. 



or 40 years the dead prong still projected 15 to 20 cm. atove tlie 

 healing surface, and probably never would have healed over. Dur- 

 ing this long time the fungus mycelium had an opportunity to enter, 

 travel down the heart wood of the trunk and reach the butt. It is 

 interesting to observe that w.hile the fungus mycelium gained 

 entrance through the broken area of the leader in the top of the 

 tree, and traveled downward, the greater injury to the trunk was 

 some distance below. This is probably due to the greater amount 

 of free resin in the younger portion of the trunk above. 'While the 

 mycelium traveled downward through this, it did not spread rapidly 



here nor bring about 

 such a complete disin- 

 tegration of the tissue.' 



Sections of. the trunk 

 just below the point 

 where tlie fungus en- 

 tered, and for some 

 distance below, show 

 the heart wood is 

 finer and harder 

 though invaded by tlie 

 mycelium. The wood 

 is also very m u c h 

 stained, brown irregu- 

 lar areas often marked 

 off by black lines, or 



^?<^^^ 



i^^r^ 



90. — Rotten section fiom rotted log of red spruce. 



divided up into smaller areas by black lines. The mycelium also 

 traveled upward in the newly established leader of the tree. From 

 the trunk it had invaded many of the branches in the same way. 

 As is usual in such cases a number of the branches had been killed. 

 These dead branches then yielded readily to the disintegrating 

 action of the f iiuijus. 



On a few of the limbs fruit bodies of Trametes ahietis were 

 found. A branch bearing a fruit body and broken at this point 

 shows the gross structural characters of the wood affected by the 

 mycelium of this species. This is shown in the photograph. At 

 one stage in the decay of the wood there are numerous areas in 



