Jan. 14. 19^8 Cultures of Wood-Rotting Fungi on Artificial Media 8i 



sporophores; neither do the hosts of the fungus seem to make any 

 marked changes in the fundamental cultural characters when strains 

 from different hosts are compared. There may be minor differences due 

 to the host from which the strain came but nothing more. 



(4) When the cultural characters of closely related but really distinct 

 species are compared, marked and constant differences in the character 

 of the mycelium will be found on certain corresponding agars in the 

 series of cultures representing the two species, while if the two fungi are 

 really the same species, no constant differences of specific rank will 

 occur. Unknown rots can also be identified by making pure cultures of 

 the causative organism from the diseased wood and determining from the 

 cultural characters of the fungus thus isolated its identity. 



(5) The presence of light is essential to the production of sporophores 

 when grown on artifical media in the great majority of fungi here inves- 

 tigated, while the character of the substratum plays only a very minor 

 roll in sporophore initiation. 



(6) The medium on which the fungus is grown often governs to some 

 extent at least the form of the hymenium which develops. 



(7) The size, shape, and color of the pores and tubes produced in 

 artificial cultures on many of the agars are practically identical with 

 those found in nature for a given species. 



(8) The pilei of both the Poplyporaceae and the Agaricaceae when 

 grown in pure cultures on artificial media are from the very beginning 

 of their formation strongly proheliotropic, while the formation of the 

 pore tubes in the Polyporaceae is always such that they are placed 

 parallel to the action of gravity. 



(9) In a few species of fungi the presence of tissue as the inoculum 

 shortened the period of sporophore development from one to several days, 



(10) Workers with wood- rotting fungi now have the following means 

 for determining the identity of a given fungus or the causative organism 

 of a given rot : (a) The sporophore characters as usually found in nature, 

 (b) the characters of the rot produced, (c) the vegetative characters 

 developed when grown in pure cultures on artificial media when exposed 

 to light, and (d) the characters of the sporophores and various spore 

 forms when produced on artificial media. 



LITERATURE CITED 

 (i) BrEFELd, Oscar. 



1877. BOTANISCHE UNTERSUCHUNGEN USER SCHIMMELPILZE. III. BASIDIO- 



MYCETEN I. 226 p., II pi. Leipzig. 



(2) 



1888. UNTERSUCHUNGEN AUS DEM GESAMMTGEBIETE DER MYKOLOGIE. 



VII. BaSIDIOMYCETEN. II. PROTOBASIDIOMYCETEN. 178 p., II pi. 



Leipzig. 

 (3) 



1889. UNTERSUCHUNGEN AUS DEM GESAMMTGEBIETE DER MYKOLOGIE. 



VIII. BASIDIOMYCETEN. III. AUTOBASIDIOMYCETEN. 305 p., 12 pi. 



Leipzig. 

 27805°— 18 4 



