BOTANICAL GAZETTE. 245 



in a hardened condition, looking like' roots. The spores of this species 

 fall on the bark, and grow there. The mycelium will not stand the 

 cold until the threads of which it is composed assume a black and har- 

 dened condition. In warm weather the hardened mass softens again. 

 This fungus is instructive because it is so injurious to forest trees, 

 and shows its changes so plainly. The punks all belong to the same 

 class with the mushrooms. A specimen was shown, which, unlike 

 the mushrooms, grew laterally from the tree, without any stalk. 

 Another species was shown, consisting of finger-shaped masses, 

 with flocculent masses attached, and having the spores in pits, 

 covering the whole surface. This is the type of another large 

 class, and is a help to those who clear land of w^ood. It absorbs the 

 cells and cell walls, until the whole mass rots away. Another fungus, 

 which was shown, is known as Indian paint. It was cut from a piece 

 of bark, the remnant of the tree on which the fungus grew, but of 

 which only traces of the trunk were left. The red color from which 

 this species takes its name is caused by decay of the cells of the bark. 

 Another species from San Bernardino Pass, also called Indian paint, 

 was shown. The color of this is caused by the spores, but it is 

 doubtful whether the species last shown was ever really used for 

 paint. 



Fungi closely related to the blights and rusts on wheat and other 

 grain, are also found on trees, where their character is more perma- 

 nent, and where they cause some of the most important diseases. A 

 portion of the swollen trunk of a pine from California was shown, hav- 

 ing a fungus of a pale yellow color, which, when fresh, was a bril- 

 liant red. The branches of the white cedar and other conifers, are 

 found distorted into a mass resembling a nest in appearance, which 

 is caused by a rust. 



The rusts show great variations in character, and pass through 

 transformations, like insects. One called the red cedar apple, late in 

 May consists of a bright orange-colored mass. When dry, it is 

 smaller and of a brownish color, consisting of swollen stems of 

 cedar, from which the conical substance of the fungus projects. It 

 is very gelatinous, and in rainy weather swells up into the orange- 

 colored mass, consisting of spores. In three or four weeks, or earlier 

 in a heavy rain, the mass is washed away, and the contents of the 

 cells pass out into tubes, which give out other bodies. These bodies, 

 sown on the leaves of hawthorn, crab, or mountain ash, produce a 

 secondary form, appearing in red patches on the upper sides of the 

 leaves. These patches consist of horn-shaped bodies, which are sacs, 



