Stevens: Polystictus versicolor 267 



fungus may be held in check for a time by the rapid growth of 

 the new tissues. 



An examination of such stumps as that shown in fig 4, which is 

 typical of a number found on the Hunnewell plantation, lends 

 support to this idea. This photograph was taken from a sec- 

 tion through the base of a stump which bore sporophores of 

 Polystictus versicolor and which had produced a sprout of aver- 

 age size. It will be noted that the fungus has destroyed practi- 

 cally all of the wood of the original stump but that the second 

 growth is as yet untouched. That the fungus was in a vigorous 

 condition was proved by placing the stumps in a moist chamber, 

 where mycelium developed on the cut surface in a few days. 



Unfortunately, no complete data are at hand by which the 

 rate of growth of catalpa coppice may be compared with that of 

 seedlings. For the first few years the growth of coppice shoots 

 greatly exceeds that of seedlings, but whether this accelerated 

 growth is sufficient to check the progress of the fungus cannot, 

 of course, be determined at present. It is apparent, however, 

 from an unpublished report on the catalpa plantation at Far- 

 lington, made in 191 1 by Mr. Charles A. Scott, Kansas State 

 Forester, that in this plantation, at least, the accelerated growth 

 of the coppice shoot does not last more than three or four years 

 and that the succeeding growth may be even less than that of 

 normal seedlings. A comparison of his data with that given by 

 Hall (2) for the same plantation in 1902 shows that second 

 growth dominant trees nine years old do not exceed in height 

 average seedling trees of the same age. As the data also show 

 that the rate of growth of second growth trees was considerably 

 greater than that of seedlings during the first three of four years, 

 the subsequent growth of the second growth trees must have 

 been enough slower to make up for what they gained in the first 

 few years. 



It is by no means certain that there is any relation between 

 the fact that the shoots grow more rapidly for the first few years 

 and that they are apparently for a time immune to the attacks of 

 the fungus, but the probability is at least great enough to make 

 continued observation on this point worth while. At any rate, 

 the length of time for which the accelerated growth of coppice 



