REPORTS BY THE HONORARY SCIENTISTS. 191 
of the surface of the wood. The present wood succeeded another 
that was felled eight years ago, and in which the larches, but not 
the hardwoods, suffered from red-rot. 
Usually the fructification of this fungus is found*in the form 
of a white porous encrustation (tawny underneath) girdling the 
stem, partially or entirely, just above the surface of the ground, 
but so close to it that grass, moss, dead leaves, etc., are enveloped 
in its tissue. Where conifers, and especially Scots firs, are seen 
to be dead or dying here and there throughout a wood, the cause 
in the majority of cases—and especially on replanted land—will 
be found to be 7. radiciperda. A tree attacked by this fungus 
is soon brought into an unhealthy condition, and so attracts 
numerous forest insects, whose work may be mistaken for the 
cause instead of the result of the trouble; but there is no doubt 
that the fungus is, in the majority of cases, the true primary 
cause. 
Such trees should be at once removed and burned. Not only 
are they a centre of infection for the disease, but they also 
constitute breeding-places for many injurious insects which may 
afterwards move on to healthy plants. 
Mr Forbes’s proposal to restock with hardwoods is a good 
one, as the fungus in this country shows a marked prefer- 
ence for conifers, which should not be planted on infected 
ground. 
The other inquiry came from Mr George Leven, St Quinox, 
Ayr, who, in sending a young Douglas fir about 4 feet high, 
writes :— 
“ My attention was drawn to it to-day while passing through 
the wood by its rather unhealthy colour, and on examination I 
found it evidently attacked by a fungus; and the peculiar thing 
is, that the affected part is about half-way up the plant and has 
a compressed appearance, owing to the cortical tissues being dead 
at that part. You will observe that the part above the wound is 
dying, while the lower part is fairly healthy, and has developed 
two or three dormant buds this year. The A. Douglasit in 
question was planted along with others in an old wood, where a 
few standards had been left, in March 1896. A few more plants 
of the same species are dead or dying, and show the same appear- 
ance as the one forwarded.” 
The plant was found to agree with Mr Leven’s description. A 
patch, about 4 inches long, and extending round the stem about 
