359 



FUNGUS FLORA OF A CAST-OUT HEARTHRUG.* 



C. CROSSLAND and J. NEEDHAM. 



In early February 1897 a cottage hearthrug', which had 

 evidently become too threadbare for further service, was 

 noticed in a corner of Pecket Wood, where it had been 

 thrown by its owners as a ready means of getting- rid of it ; 

 possibly it had been cleared out the previous Christmas to make 

 room for a new one. Pecket — or, as marked in the 6-in. Ord. 

 Map, Spring — Wood is one of the many woodlands in the 

 vicinity of Hebden Bridge. The rug was home-made, and con- 

 sisted of clothtabs fixed into a coarse, sacklike framework, 

 backed by a piece of closely-woven jute sheeting. In size it 

 was 6 ft. by 3 ft. The materials entering into its composition 

 were wool, cotton, and jute. Having seen fungi of various 

 kinds, particularly Ascophanus carneiLs, growing" on rotting 

 woven materials in woods, under hedges, etc., we decided 

 to give this old rug a chance to foster any fungus spores that 

 might happen to find their way to it as it passed through its 

 various stages of decay. With this purpose in view the rug 

 was moved to a more suitable place in the wood for seclusion, 

 dampness, and shade, and so laid that both sacking and cloth- 

 tabs would have equal chance. There were then no signs of 

 fungi of any kind upon it. It was kept under observation by 

 weekly or fortnightly visits (except in midwinter) so long as any 

 of it remained undecomposed. 



The first observable fungus was noted on the 3rd of April, 

 a small black Pyrenomycete. There w^ere numerous perithecia 

 on the damper portion of the clothtabs ; a few were taken for 

 examination, but being imimature a further examination of others 

 was made a fortnight later. It proved to be Anixia spadicea 

 Fckl., a somewhat uncommon species. This was the first time 

 we had met with it; its confrere, A. cyclosphora, had been pre- 

 viously found on rotting paper at the bottom of a railway em- 

 bankment in another part of the district. 



On the 6th of May a little stemless resupinate Agaric, Pleii- 

 rotiLs septicus Fr. , had developed on the jute sacking. This is 

 a common species, and commands a wide range in variety of 

 habitat. It has been found on fallen trunks, twigs, leaves, 

 decaying fungi, dung, etc., and now we can add, rotting jute 

 fibre. 



* Read at the Rokeby Fung-us Foray. 



1904 December i. 



