QuEKETT on Fungus, 
75 
when the time comes for this ancient inhabitant of the forest 
to be cut down, some competent person may be allowed to 
examine it. It may happen that fungi are more frequently 
present in wood than has been imagined, and when such tim- 
ber is made a part of a ship or building it may be the first to 
show symptoms of decay. 
The ravages of fungi are very remarkable. At one of the 
early meetings of this Society we had two papers on the decay 
of fruit, in which Dr. Hassall showed that the rottenness in 
bruised or over-ripe apples, pears, &c. depended upon the 
growth of fungi. We have now another instance of it in the 
oak, and I think that the further investigation of this subject 
would be well worthy the attention of microscopists. It was 
a fortunate thing, perhaps, that a microscopical observer hap- 
pened to be present when the limb of the tree in question fell, 
for, as it was beginning to rain heavily at the time, all trace 
of the filaments would either soon have been washed away, 
or they would have become so much injured as not to have 
attracted notice, and thus the observations contained in this 
paper (valueless as they may at first sight appear) would not 
have been recorded. 
