CHAPTER VI. 



DISEASES DUE TO AGARIC US MELLEUS AND 

 POL YPOR US SULPHUR E US. 



BEFORE proceeding further it will be of advantage 

 to describe another tree-killing fungus, which has long 

 been well known to mycologists as one of the com- 

 monest of our toadstools growing from rotten stumps, 

 and decaying wood-work such as old water-pipes, 

 bridges, &c. This is Agaricus melleus (Fig. 1 5), a 

 tawny yellow toadstool with a ring round its stem, 

 and its gills running down on the stem and bearing 

 white spores, and which springs in tufts from the base 

 of dead and dying trees during September and October. 

 It is very common in this country, and I have often 

 found it on beeches and other trees in Surrey, but it 

 has been regarded as simply springing from the dead 

 rotten wood, &c., at the base of the tree. As a 

 matter of fact, however, this toadstool is traced to a 



