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For weeks after the removal of the fungus the spot on the tree where 
it had been can be detected by its lighter color, looking as if it had been 
cleaned. There are, however, no other external marks of the effect of the 
fungus and the tree appears to suffer little vital injury. Some six years 
ago a fine specimen was found growing on a beech at a height of 12 or 
15 feet from the ground in the dooryard of Dr. Edwin Post in Greencastle. 
The tree is still living and apparently thriving. The top of the tree has 
been cut off or broken out, apparently many years ago and certainly prior 
to infection by the fungus. The plant does not seem to kill the tree, but 
such a fungal mass could hardly be produced without considerable injury. 
The fungus has been observed only on large trees a foot or more in diame- 
ter. The writer has not been able to examine the wood of a tree attacked 
by the fungus, but it seems probable that the mycelium may be confined 
to the heart wood, which would account for the little injury done to the 
growing tree, as well as the fact of its confinement to old trees. 
It seems probable also that the sporophores are preduced from small 
openings, because these offer a suitable path of exit through the sap-wood. 
It may appear, therefore, strange to speak of the plant as a parasite; but 
while its mycelium may be confined in its vegetative state to the non-living 
heart-wood, it is also true that the fungus appears to be confined to living 
trees and is never found on dead trunks, whether standing or fallen. 
The plant seems to prefer the beech as its host. It has been reported 
as growing on maple and perhaps hickory in the East, where beech is not 
very abundant. I! have never seen the plant in sitw on the latter hosts, 
and illustrations suggest the possibility of the plant’s being more or less 
distinct in character from the one found on beech. The original descrip- 
tion and figure by Fries was from specimens found on beech in Sweden. 
These are in every respect typical of specimens found here in Indiana. I 
“have seen no entire specimens of the European form on beech. At Upsala 
there is in the herbarium an eptire specimen of extraordinary size that 
was found growing on Linden in the Botanical Garden of the University. 
Although the specimen is dried, it is evident at sight that the plant pre- 
sents some striking differences from our Indiana plants. The pilei are 
much smaller, thinner, more numerous and more distinct, the color cinereous 
rather than creameus, and the teeth somewhat shorter. It is only after 
closer examination that one hesitates to pronounce it a distinct species. 
Fries makes mention of the plant’s being found on elm in the same Bo- 
