54 Transactions British Mycological Society. 



HYPHOMYCETES AND THE ROTTING OF 



TIMBER. 



By A. Lorrain Smith, F.L.S- 



Specimens of decaying timber from liouses in Surrey and 

 Suffolk have been sent to me recently to be examined. In 

 both houses there was an outbreak of dry-rot on walls and 

 floors, but there were also beams in other parts of the 

 buildings attacked by fungi that had no relation to Merulius 

 lac ry mans. 



In the Surrey house, a modern building, the end of a 

 beam was affected, and small portions were submitted for 

 examination. One of which, over an inch in length, was 

 marked by dark speckles. Under the microscope a strong 

 brown mycelium was found invading the woody tissues. 

 The medullary rays were partially destroyed : in them the 

 mycelium was more luxurious and had formed dark-brown 

 chlamydospores w^iich gave the speckled effect to the speci- 

 men. On the extreme end of the beam there was a confused 

 tuft of dark mycelium and small round spores also very 

 dark in colour but the material was too old and too formless 

 for exact identification. A thin section of the affected wood 

 was placed in a culture of water with a slight admixture 

 of glucose-agar. In a few days there grew out a tuft of 

 colourless mycelium from which developed conidiophores, 

 these being the ultimate branchlets of the hyphai. From 

 these tips and from side branchlet chains of small subglobose 

 spores arose : they were colourless at first but gradually 

 changed to brown. They measured the same as those found 

 on the end of the beam, 3-4/ji in diam, or 3-4^x3/^1; the 

 mycelium did not become brown in the open culture ; there 

 seems no doubt however that it is continuous with the brown 

 hyplijp within the wood. The fungus seems to be identical 

 with Torula abbreviata Corda, which grows on wood etc. 

 and bears short chains. I am not sure of its identity with 

 the superficial black tufts. 



The wood so far shewed little injury as it was quite firm, 

 but in time trouble might arise. 



The diseased timber from an old house in Suffolk (other 



