Hollick: Maple Tree Fungus 191 



Another fact may also be noted. Close to the outer margin at 

 one side of the section may be seen a knot hole, around which and 

 extending beyond the center of the section, is a circular area of 

 discoloration with finger-like extensions, similar to the conven- 

 tionalized rays of a star, reaching outward towards the margin 

 at the opposite side of the section. This discoloration is due to 

 the mycelia or roots of a fungus, Pyropolyporus igniarias (L.) 

 Murrill, which have entered into the interior from the knot hole, 

 following around the annual rings and branching out along the 

 medullary rays, destroying the tissues and gradually causing their 

 disintegration and decay. 



The knot hole, originally due to a broken branch, afforded a 

 convenient breeding place for the spores of the fungus, whose 

 mycelia slowly made their way into the interior. The fungus 

 proper, or sporophore, when present, grows on the exterior, in 

 the form of a hard, woody hoof- or shelf -like excrescence, hav- 

 ing a furrowed appearance as it grows old, due to successive 

 accumulations of annual layers, but I failed to find any indica- 

 tion of a sporophore in this instance. This fungus is not con- 

 fined to the maple, but attacks also the oaks, beech, birch, apple, 

 and other species of trees. An excellent description, with illus- 

 trations, may be found in " Studies of Some Shade Tree and 

 Timber Destroying Fungi," by George F. Atkinson, in Bulletin 

 no. 193, Cornell Univ. Agric. Exp. Station, Botanical Div., June 

 1901. 



Now there is one point of special local interest in connection 

 with this subject which deserves serious consideration. We have 

 all noticed with sorrow how all of the trees and in fact nearly all 

 kinds of vegetation along the North Shore, from New Brighton 

 to West New Brighton, have been either blighted or completely 

 destroyed by the smoke and gases emanating from the factories 

 on the New Jersey shore on Constable Hook. These par- 

 ticular maple trees which we have under consideration are merely 

 a few of the many examples that could be cited. Their destruc- 

 tion is primarily due to this cause. Year after year they have 



