TINDER FUNGUS 187 



the under surface, is almost flat, powdered with white meal 

 when young, afterwards rusty brown, and covered with very 

 minute holes, the openings of tubes which bear the spores 

 on their walls. The spores are oval and brown. A slice 

 or section through the entire fungus is more or less tri- 

 angular, the upper portion or flesh is rust-colour and 

 rather soft ; the tubes are arranged in layers, or stratose, 

 and coloured like the flesh. 



This fungus resembles in general appearance the ' False 

 Tinder Fungus ' iJFomes igniarius), from which it is distin- 

 guished by the softer flesh, and more especially by the 

 brown spores. In the last-named fungus the spores are 

 colourless. 



After gaining access to the living tissues of the tree 

 through some wound, the heart-wood is first attacked, which 

 assumes a white colour and becomes broken up into square 

 pieces by the action of the mycelium, which, forms thin, 

 tough white sheets, spreading from the wood towards the 

 bark. 



According to Tubeuf, the more or less evident groove or 

 channel, so often present on the trunk above and below a 

 sporophore of the fungus, is caused by the mycelium having 

 killed the cambium, and thus prevented the growth of 

 wood at these parts. 



At one time the flesh of this fungus was used for tinder, 

 and at the present day, after being beaten and converted 

 into pliant, felt-like sheets, is made into a variety of articles, 

 fancy and useful, as bedroom slippers, chest-preservers, 

 purses, smoking-caps, bags, etc. A series of articles manu- 

 factured from this material are exhibited in No. 2 Museum, 

 Kew Gardens. 



Preventive Means. — When the fungus appears on a 



