FUNGI. 47 
arranged as to have the appearance of pores, and 
distilling drops of. moisture when perfect ; whence 
its specific name. In the mature state it produces 
an immense number of minute rusty sporules, 
which alight and speedily vegetate in the circum- 
jacent timber, destroying its elasticity and tough- 
ness, and rendering it incapable of resisting any 
pressure, until gradually it crumbles into dry 
Fic. 51.—MERULIUS LACHRYMANS. 
brown dust. This insidious disease, once estab- 
lished, spreads with amazing rapidity, destroying 
some of the best and most solid-looking houses 
in afew years. The ships in the Crimea suffered 
more from this cause than from the ravages of fire, 
or the shot and shells of the enemy. The dry-rot 
of oak-built vessels is caused, however, not by the 
Merulius but by the Polyporus hybridus, whose 
2 iD) 
