330 Linncean Society. 



against the sleepers on, the dwarf walls. The other parts of the 

 seats were of Baltic deal. Good limestone masonry was used in the 

 construction of the walls ; the pillars and windows were made of 

 stone from France ; and the aisles were paved with closely- jointed 

 fine black slate. 



Within a few months after the completion of the church a fungus 

 was observed at the seat at the corner immediately behind the south 

 door, and soon after decay appeared in other seats near it. Fresh 

 passages for air were made through the walls running under the 

 seats, but in a few months these were filled with a species of vege- 

 table matter looking like fine mould. This was found to spread 

 under the whole of the seats to the west of the south door, and suc- 

 cessively affecting those to the eastward of the same door and those 

 of the centre of the church, but always that part which adjoined the 

 aisle or passage. A suspicion arose, from taking up some of the stones 

 of the aisles, that there was a plant which had its origin near the south 

 door, which crossed under the paving of the aisles, and travelled 

 along the sleepers and framing of the seats, causing all the mischief; 

 and a thorough investigation was determined on. On taking down 

 some of the seats, a fungus was found having some of its branches 

 as large as straws, and others as fine as horse-hair, spreading out 

 under the floors of the seats in the very finest fibres, breaking into 

 forms resembling the finest leather, and wherever it obtained a good 

 supply of air by means of an air-channel, becoming half an inch 

 thick, attached on one side to the dry floor, and having on the other 

 side a spongy surface, fitted for the collection of moisture from the 

 atmosphere ; for although the floor was perfectly dry, the fungus by 

 which it was eaten out was as wet and cold as a sponge filled with 

 water. The seat next the south door was removed ; its framing was 

 entirely decayed, and beneath it was found a root-like portion of the 

 fungus descending nearly perpendicularly to the depth of sixteen 

 inches. In the north aisle the seats were not affected, and it was 

 presumed that they had not been reached by the fungus ; but on 

 taking up the paving-stones of that aisle, it was found to have ap- 

 proached within a foot of the reading-desk, growing from the seats 

 of the opposite side of the aisle in the form of a semicircle increasing 

 gradually on all sides. 



Mr. Holdsworth is convinced that one plant, beginning near the 

 south door, was the cause of all the mischief; when, however, the 

 whole of the paving of the aisles was removed, other plants were 

 found spreading in a fine film under it in a circular form, and six or 

 eight inches in diameter ; and these, when carefully taken up, were 

 seen to have a stem in the centre running two inches or more into 

 the ground, and usually attached to a bit of decayed wood. Thus 

 the habit of the plant appears to be to travel on through grooves or 

 under pavements, and in other concealed places, where it can find 

 wood on which to feed, and which it renders dry and of a character 

 as if destroyed by fire. Mr. Holdsworth exhibited dried specimens 

 of the fungus in various states, which he has presented to the British 

 Museum. 



