224 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



counsel dwelt especially upon the question as to whether it 

 was or was not possible to distinguish between injurious root 

 fungi and harmless ones. The witness gave it as his opinion 

 that the injurious forms grew " upon the root," while fungi 

 growing "about the root" were not "necessarily injurious." 



Very definite and precise evidence was subsequently given 

 by Dr Sidney Vines, whose acquaintance with De Bary's work 

 on fungi gave him many advantages. Dr Vines had studied 

 all parts of the trees, those above as well as those below ground. 

 He found traces of fungi on all parts, but was able to show 

 that there was no evidence of the fungal hyphae penetrating to 

 the internal tissues of the trees, and thus there was no evidence 

 that they were injurious. He had cut sections of the roots, and 

 these showed the absence of the hyphae in the internal tissues. 

 He was also able to show that there was no difference in the 

 fungi found on the trees at Glencorse, healthy or unhealthy, and 

 those found on the roots of healthy trees growing in localities 

 other than Glencorse. His statement, however, " I was not 

 able to ascertain the nature of the particular fungus which I 

 found on the roots," reminds us how much work on the fungi 

 still remained to be done at this time. 



Dr Vines also pointed out that the crop of leaves in the 

 woods was scanty, and that the leaves present showed evidence 

 of damage. In his opinion, the suggestion that the damage 

 was due to frost was negatived by the fact that the young 

 shoots were not damaged. He therefore concluded that the 

 trees were suffering from the effect of some injurious vapours 

 in the air which acted upon the leaves. The cross-examination 

 was especially directed to the question of the possibility of 

 distinguishing between the fungi found by Dr Vines on the 

 roots of some of the trees and injurious parasitic fungi. The 

 absence of any penetration into the internal tissues by the 

 hyphae observed seemed, in this witness's opinion, to prove 

 definitely that these hyphae were not injurious or parasitic. 



Subsequently Mr John Murray, of the British Museum, gave 

 evidence as to finding putrefactive^ or what we should now 

 prefer to call saprophytic, fungi on the trees in Glencorse ; but, 

 as he showed, these were merely a result of the diseased 

 condition of the trees, and not a cause of disease. 



Prof. M'Kendrick, who followed, restricted himself chiefly 

 in his evidence to the fungi (]uestion. In sum, his evidence 



