HEART-ROT CAUSED BY OTHER FUNGI 129 



naked eye. With respect to the secretion of liquid which 

 occurs at the time of spore dispersal, the following quotation 

 from Schrenk (1900) is of interest : 



' At the time of ripening of the spores it was noticed that 

 hundreds of drops of a yellowish liquid were hanging from 

 the hymenial surfaces every morning when the fungus in 

 question was visited. Some of these drops were carefully 

 collected and were examined. In them floated a number 

 of spores and flocculent yellowish -brown masses, which 

 stained yellow with nitric acid. These were present for 

 several days. Thereafter the liquid was almost clear except 

 for numberless spores which were in every drop. For three 

 weeks the drops were collected with a pipette during the 

 day, and during the night a plate, carefully protected 

 against dew and rain, was placed under the fungus. In 

 this way about three-fifths of a pint (300 c.c.) of liquid 

 were collected. This was poured into an open dish and put 

 in a cool place, where the water was allowed to evaporate. 

 A thick brown syrup was left after some weeks, which had 

 the odour of very impure molasses. The syrup was trans- 

 ferred to a vial, which was corked and placed in a warm 

 place. In a few days delicate needle-shaped crystals shot 

 out, which on examination proved to be melezitose and 

 mycose, sugars sometimes found in fungi. 



' At the same time that this secretion appeared on the 

 hymenium, or rather shortly afterwards, a number of small 

 beetles began to devour the hymenium with great avidity. 

 So active were they that within three weeks of their appear- 

 ance the hymenium was. entirely destroyed, and of course 

 with it whatever spores had remained. It is suggested that 

 the secretion of this sugar and the destruction of the 

 hymenium by the beetles may have some meaning in con- 

 nexion with the dispersal of the spores. It is a point worthy 

 of further observations by local observers in future years.' 



Rot in the wood. In all sections of living trunks which 

 I have obtained, showing rot with this fungus, the rot is 

 entirely confined to the heart-wood. Consequently in the 

 Scots pine with its narrow heart-wood the rot is much 



1888 



