54 Dry Rot in Timber. 



dining-room floor. I visited the place, examined the floor, and 

 reported at attack of dry rot. The tenant, who was leaving a 

 few months later, did not wish to be disturbed, and the matter 

 was left over until he had removed. At a visit thereafter I found 

 that the whole floor had collapsed. The flooring boards, which 

 were of teak wood, had not been much damaged, but of the red 

 pine joisting only small end pieces in the walls remained, and a 

 little 'black dust. On further examination, the decay was found 

 to prevail in other parts of the house. Overhead beams of red 

 pine, 12 inches square, were completely destroyed, blackened, 

 and partly reduced to dust. Cart loads of fine timber were 

 rendered useless. I need not describe in detail all that had 

 taken place, but three points should, I think, be particularised : — 

 (1) In order to have access to a space under the floor of one of 

 the apartments, an opening was made through a two feet thick 

 wall built of whinstone and lime mortar. It was perfectly solid 

 and free from any fissures through which an\thing could go, and 

 the mortar was so tenacious that it was less difiicult to break 

 the stones than to effect separation at the joints. The fungus, 

 however, was discovered passing through, -in a fresh state, one 

 of these unbreakable joints. The appearance was like tracing 

 paper, compressed and transparent. Possibly the passage may 

 have been effected before the mortar had become hard. (2) In 

 a dry, airy top-floor bedroom, with a southern aspect, the face 

 of one of the window shutters exhibited a circular sporidium 

 about 15 inches in diameter adhering like a piece of paper to the 

 varnished wood. It was self-contained, and had no root or con- 

 nection with any other growth. The outer circumference and 

 the centre were of a dirty yellow colour, with blackish markings 

 towards the extreme centre 3 and between the outer circumfer- 

 ence and the centre there was a belt of about 3 inches in breadth 

 of a reddish brown colour, which projected slightly from the 

 otherwise flat surface. This belt contained the spores which in 

 number were uncountable. How this sporidium should germinate 

 and grow to maturity independently of any root, and in the face 

 of the sun, is an interesting question. Probably a spore was 

 blown with such force against the shutter as to penetrate and 

 become embedded in the wood, and there fructify, but to do so in 

 such a position is hardly consistent with the common conception 

 of what would take place. (3) The house was not at first in 



