232 Transactions British Mycological Society. 
included in C. pilifera) the perithecia of which are very like 
those of the three previously named (i.e. those of the ‘pilifera 
group’), this must, on account of its characteristic auxiliary 
fructifications, form another genus.” 
The latest contribution to the literature of the subject is 
‘Some Notes on Sap-stain Fungi,” by E. E. Hubert(3). This 
is a description of the action of the fungi on the timber of 
various trees and the results of tests of the strength of the 
infected timber. 
In this country “ blue-rot’”’ has been known for many years, 
and it has been assumed that it is caused by one or more 
species of Ceratostomella, but I have been unable to find any 
description of species occurring here. The present investigation 
has not been confined to Ceratostomella, for it was found that, 
in many cases, even where the characteristic blue stain was 
most pronounced, other fungi were present. 
Pl. VIII is a photograph of a section of the trunk of a 
freshly-felled tree of Pinus sylvestris. At every point where the 
trunk and the branches were cut there was a well-defined blue 
band—the infected sap-wood—which was riddled with a net- 
work of brown hyphae (PI. IX, fig. 1). From this wood several 
fungi were isolated, including two species of Ceratostomella. It is 
clear that the isolation of the components of such a mixed 
infection is a matter of considerable difficulty. 
Of the genus Ceratostomella, I have found C. Pint Minch and 
C. Piceae Miinch very commonly in and around Edinburgh and, 
indeed, in any woods visited between Edinburgh and Inverness, 
and have no doubt that they occur all over Scotland. 
In Edinburgh it is so abundant that in any load of household 
wood (if it is of Pinus sylvestris) perithecia may be observed 
on almost every log, crowded in the cracks of the bark and on 
the surface of the wood. In some cases the sap-wood of standing 
trees was found badly attacked by these two species of Cerato- 
stomella and other fungi, and it is interesting to note that in 
all cases which have come under my observation the bark of 
the tree was riddled with the holes made by the pine beetle 
(Hylesinus piniperda). This would appear to support von 
Schrenk’s theory for the cause of death of the “‘ blued’ specimens 
of Pinus ponderosa. . 
Another point which may, perhaps, be of importance is that 
the dead trees were generally in marshy ground. 
Ceratostomella Piceae Miinch. 
This fungus has been described by Miinch as it occurs in 
Bavaria, but I am commencing my description of the wood- 
staining fungi with a short account of its life-history, as it 
