Periodical Literature. 753 



agement of telegraph lines in south-eastern Moravia and has 

 found that, on certain lines at least, 80% of the copper treated 

 poles had to be removed on account of decay induced by the 

 fungus at the base. 



Fruiting-bodies were difficult to find at first, and do not oc- 

 cur on rapidly decayed poles. They appear in T^Iay and June, 

 develop well in high grass, and wither when this vegetation 

 dries out about June 15. The hymenium is frequently enclosed 

 by an overgrowth of mycelium in the shape of flaps, but the 

 form largely depends on moisture and surrounding conditions, 

 bracket forms being produced when sufficiently moist, and more 

 variable and aborted fruit-bodies when drier. These prefer the 

 south-east side of poles, if sufficiently protected from the light. 

 Development is often accompanied by the production of strands, 

 or rhizomorphs, both in the soil and in checks in the wood. 

 An effective way of calling forth the fruit bodies is to dig a cone 

 of soil away from the base of the pole, thereby allowing a space 

 in which the fungus can develop. Alternation of moisture and 

 dryness, without reference to the chemical nature of the soil, 

 is sufficient for development, and poles set in quartz sand decay 

 most rapidly on account of the more favorable moisture rela- 

 tion. Whether the organism is exactly identical with the true 

 Merulius lachrymans the author has not fully decided. 



Fir, spruce, pine or larch poles, about 8 inches in diameter and 

 treated with copper sulfate last 2-14 years. Under unfavorable 

 conditions the fungus appears first after about 10 years, and com- 

 pletes the destruction in 4 years more. A poorly creosoted stump 

 of a pole sent from Pressburg, Hungary, was similarly decayed by 

 Merulius. 



The trouble seems rather widely distributed in Austro-Hungary 

 but is not reported from Germany. As a result of the investiga- 

 tion thorough creosote treatments are replacing copper sulfate. 

 The preservative action of creosote the author believes due, not 

 to phenols, which almost disappear within two years, but to its 

 water-proofing capacity. 



In another article Wehmer calls attention to the fact that oak 

 wood is immune to the attack of Merulius lachrymans and cites an 

 observation in a building to support this opinion. The older 

 authors disagree among themselves on this point, some claim- 



