l68 Transactions British Mycological Society. 



An inaugural dissertation was delivered in 1910 by Ludwig 

 Rose at the University of Berlin on the subject of the oak slime- 

 flux, but the writer has been unable to consult this. 



VARIETIES OF FLUX INVESTIGATED BY THE WRITER, 

 AND METHODS EMPLOYED. 



1. Brown slime-flux: [a) red variety (elms and horse-chest- 

 nuts) ; (6) brown variety (elms and horse-chestnuts) ; (c) apple 

 iiux. 



2. White slime-flux: willows and elms. 



Samples were taken from as near the fluxing aperture as 

 possible by means of a sterile wire contained in a sterile glass 

 tube. Bouin's picroformol solution and Gram's iodine were 

 found to be the most useful fixatives for smears, while iron alum- 

 haematoxylin gave very satisfactory results as a staining reagent. 



BROWN SLIME-FLUX. 



I. Previous Investigations. 



According to Ludwig (3), this flux occurs on apples, horse- 

 chestnuts, birches, poplars, elms, hazels, tulip-trees, oaks, etc., 

 and is widespread throughout France, Belgium and Germany. 

 It is said to cause much damage to orchard trees and to trees 

 in streets and parks. It is stated to occur all the year round, in 

 this respect differing markedly from the white slime-flux, and 

 is characterised by the outflow of a yellowish brown, viscid, but 

 not gelatinous slime, which originates in the wood, breaks 

 through the bark and flows down the tree in a broad stream. 



The constituents of the flux are stated by Ludwig to be the 

 same in all the trees investigated. "The fresh slime contains 

 at first only micrococci, which are accompanied by a mycelial 

 fungus, Torula monilioides Corda. . . .The chief role doubtless 

 falls to the bacteria, which I have named Micrococcus dendro- 

 porthos Ludw. In the later stages there are found numerous other 

 organisms, especially Fusarium, large brown spores resembling 

 the teleutospores of a Puccinia, and which probably belong to 

 an Ascomycete, algae (Bacillariaceae, Protococcaceae, etc.) " (6). 

 The presence of a mite, nematodes, insect larvae, rotifers, etc., 

 is also recorded. An Oidium was found in a horse-chestnut flux. 



Ludwig states that the bark is usually entirely destroyed, 

 while the wood becomes rotten and contains free butyric acid. 

 Holtz(9), on the other hand, found that in most cases the tree 

 showed signs of wounding (frost-cracks, insect and other wounds) 

 at the point of origin of the flux and that "nowhere was there 

 any evidence of a destroying effect of the slime-flux on bark 

 or wood." 



