V.] TRAMETES RADICIPERDA. 145 



known outside the small circle of specialists who 

 have devoted themselves to such studies as are here 

 referred to. 



One of the most disastrous of the fungi which 

 attack living trees is Trametes radiciperda (Hartig) 

 the Polyporus annosus of Fries, and it is especially 

 destructive to . the Conifers. Almost every one is 

 familiar with some of our common Polyporei, 

 especially those the fructifications of which project 

 like irregular brackets of various colours from dead 

 stumps, or from the stems of moribund trees ; well, 

 such forms will be found on examination to have 

 numerous minute pores on the under side or on the 

 upper side of their cheese-like, corky, or woody 

 substance, and the spores which reproduce the 

 fungus are developed on the walls lining these 

 many pores, to which these fungi owe their name. 

 Trametes radiciperda is one of those forms which 

 has its pores on the upper side of the spore-bearing 

 fructification, and presents the remarkable peculiarity 

 of developing the latter on the exterior of roots 

 beneath the surface of the soil (Fig. 11). 



This is not the place to discuss the characters of 

 species and genera, nor to enter in detail into the 

 structure of fungi, but it is necessary to point out 

 that in those cases where the casual observer sees 



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