700 TUCKAHOE, OR INDIAN BREAD. 



specimen was changed to a transparent jelly. A p ortion of the trans- 

 parent crust was examined under powers varying from 25 to 250 diam- 

 eters. In each case I found in it large quantities of mycelium of a dark- 

 brown color, branched, transparent, and in long fibers or cells, varying 

 from the .002 to the .020 of an inch in diameter. 



" I next subjected a section of Tuckahoe to the action of a strong solu- 

 tion of cyanide of potassium for a period of 48 hours. The substance 

 of the Tuckahoe became quite transparent and pasty, color light-amber. 

 On subjecting a portion of this paste to the microscope in the usual 

 way, under a glass cover, masses of mycelium were discovered. 



" With a "Beck" inchand-a-half and No. A eye-piece I can clearly de- 

 fine in nearly every portion mycelium stretching in masses over the 

 whole field in view. 



" In the crust of the Tuckahoe, under the acid treatment, the mycelium 

 is of a transparent amber-color, while in the white portions the mycelium 

 is whitish and translucent. In the fourth experiment I cut very thin 

 sections of moistened Tuckahoe, and mounted them in the usual way, 

 dry, and in glycerine. When examined under the microscope a few 

 threads of mycelium were visible, but only at points of rupture. Tuck- 

 ahoe, whether dry or in watery solution, is opaque, and for this reason, 

 and partly because of the exceeding fineness of the m j'celium, the latter 

 is not discovered in quantity by the simple use of the microscope. 



"The application of balsam or other mounting fluid has very little 

 effect in rendering its structure transparent, but my experiments have 

 shown that strong alkalies and mineral acids, especially the nitric acid, 

 will render it perfectly transparent and so soft that with slight pressure 

 the pulp is reduced to a thinner condition than can be obtained by the 

 use of any section-cutter. 



" Specimens reduced by means of cyanide of potassium may be mounted 

 with a solution of gum-arabic and glycerine. Specimens prepared with 

 acids may be mounted in glycerine temporarily. 



" Having succeeded in demonstrating by the methods described that 

 mycelium is present in large quantities in Tuckahoe, I have come to the 

 conclusion that although Tuckahoe may not itself be a fungus in the 

 strict sense of the word, it is probable that it is caused by the mycelium 

 of a fungus acting on the roots of trees on which Tuckahoe is found. 



" The outer surfiice is a bark-like crust which appears to consist of large 

 cellulose cells, and between this outer crust and the inner white sub- 

 stance is a thin and dark layer about an eighth of an inch in thickness 

 of amber-colored pectic acid, cob-webbed through with masses of dark- 

 brown mycelium." 



Bibliography of Tucliolioe. 



One of the in teresting features of every subject is a knowledge of 

 what has been written upon that subject, the preliminary step being 

 the acqaintance with books and authors from which such knowledge 



