REPORT OF THE SOCIET"i 



19 



Bull. No. 149, Bureau of Plant Industry, U.S. Dept. of Agr., Washington, 

 1909) report that ''In northern New-England, New York, Michgan, Wisconsin 

 and Minnesota in particular, the tinder fungus {F omes fomentarius) is one of the 

 commonest wood-destroying forms found in deciduous forests." 



Botanically many new points of interest have been noted — such as the 

 characters of its spores, their viability and method of germination, the remark- 



FiG. 3. — Fotnes fomentarius on trunk of a living yellow birch. 



able habit of vernal spore discharge, and the production of spores for three 

 or four years from the same pore layers. But the main interest here centers 

 on the relationship to its host. Regarding this feature, a general misconception 

 has existed and one that directly concerns the application of the heartwood to 

 some industrial purposes. Various manuals or bulletins dealing with the 

 fungus ascribe to it a decay in the outer sapwood of living trees immediately 



