ROT-FUNGI AND THEIR WORK 83 



seen a whitish or brownish stain, caused by slimy 

 exudations from the cut or fractured wood. Such 

 a flow is called a slime-flux. The flux is charac- 

 terized, in addition to its appearance, by a sour, 



Sporophores of Fames applanatus on dead maple stump 



yeasty smell. Slime-fluxes are probably due to 

 the growth of alga, low fungous forms, as bacteria 

 and yeast, and often animalcules, in the sap which 

 escapes naturally, at the time of the original injury 

 to the tree, from the cambium and sapwood. The' 

 growth of these minute organisms causes the for- 



