ROT-FUNGI AND THEIR WORK 81 



the mycelial framework. Trees long affected 

 are always hollow with masses of the powdery 

 rotten wood, alive with insects, at the bottom of 

 the cavity. 



The mushrooms of the red heart rot, which are 

 edible when young, appear in late summer but do 

 not persist long. 



Hydnum erinaceus, the " coral mushrooms," 

 causes a decay of oaks and maples characterized 

 by the softness and moistness of the decayed wood. 

 " The diseased wood in its final stages," say von 

 Schrenk and Spaulding, " is soft and mushy, so 

 that when squeezed considerable water flows out. 

 Trees in an advanced state of decay have numer- 

 ous large holes in the heartwood, which are filled 

 with masses of light yellowish, fluffy fungous my- 

 celium." The mushrooms, much sought by epi- 

 cures in that sort of delicacy, are lumpy, soft, 

 moist-looking, and crowded underneath with spike- 

 like teeth bearing the spores. 



Root rots are fortunately not so common as 

 heart rots, for they are at once deadly and almost 

 impossible to combat. The only well-known 

 species is the honey mushroom, Armillaria mellea. 

 The fruiting bodies occur in masses at the base of 

 the affected tree or on the surface of the soil above 

 a large root. The individual mushrooms are 

 rather small, honey colored, and specked with 

 white. The stem has a swollen base and a ring 



