74 
QuEKETT on Fungus. 
had numerous globular bodies, about l-800th of an inch, 
adherent to them, but many were scattered about irregularly ; 
these 1 concluded might be the spores — they are shown in 
fig. 8. It now becomes a question whether this fungus is of 
the same nature as that termed Merulius lachrymans, which is 
said to be the cause of dry-rot. I have tried in vain to get 
any fungus resembling it in specimens of dry-rot taken from 
wood employed in building, and I never recollect seeing any- 
thing at all like it in the interior of any specimen of wood, 
either living or dead. The crystals are very peculiar, they 
may be readily seen by the naked eye studding the surface of 
some of the sections ; some of them are so intimately mixed 
up with the filaments of the fungus that the crystalline matter 
appears to have been deposited upon them. A large crystal 
is shown in fig. 9, having fungi in its interior ; one of these is 
represented in fig. 10. 
Tt would appear, therefore, that the fungi were in a great 
measure auxiliary to the fall of the limb in question, if not the 
entire cause of it, the effect of the growth of the filaments 
being the separation of the woody fibres and a destruction of 
the channels through which the sap flowed; this last, being 
diverted from its usual course, no doubt lost a great portion of 
its watery part by absorption, and the solid matter held in 
solution then began to crystallize. The parts most thickly 
coated with the fungi are free from crystals ; in fact, the fungi 
are so numerous as to form a perfect coating over the wood, 
some of the filaments being still white, but the majority of a 
light-brown colour. In those pieces of wood in which a cavity 
or cavities have been formed by the separation of the woody 
fibres, the crystals are most numerous. They are generally of 
a tabular form, and so transparent that the filaments of the 
fungi over which they have formed may be readily seen within 
them. I have not yet been able to ascertain the exact chemical 
composition of the crystals, but they are soluble in dilute 
acids, and probably consist of some vegetable acid, with lime 
as a base. The occurrence of fungi, visible to the naked eye, 
within a living oak tree, is a fact which few, if any, persons 
have yet described ; but the fungus of the dry-rot in wood 
which has been exposed to circumstances favourable to its de- 
velopment is far from being uncommon. The fungus now in 
question would appear to differ from the Merulius lachrymans 
in growing in the interior of a living tree, whilst that is stated 
in books to commence growth in the sap-wood on the exterior. 
It would be interesting to ascertain whether a similar fungus 
exists in other parts of the same tree ; and I shall endeavour 
to enlist the owner of it in the cause of science, in order that, 
