308 
Tlie Canker of the Lwrch. 
Fig. 5.— Bark cells, showing the i 
JJa-iiifcypha WiUkommii, maguificl 4<J0 times 
e mycelium of 
exterior, compact masses are found near the surface of the 
bark, and these give rise to the minute, roundish, white bodies 
which are seen scattered over the diseased part in Fig. 1. 
These white bodies 
gradually increase in 
size and open out 
into flattened cups 
with a raised white 
border and a flat 
concave centre of a 
bright orange colour. 
Fig. G represents a 
jjiece of bark from 
a tree in a small 
plantation near New- 
ton Morrell, North 
Yorkshire, with large 
and well-developed 
cups of the fungus. 
In Fig. 7 we 
have a highly mag- 
nified section of a 
young and scarcely 
opened fruit, as well as a mature one. The mass of mycelium 
tei-minating in the fruit is shown in this section. The bright 
orange-coloured centre 
of the fruit contains the 
seeds or spores of the 
fungus. It consists of 
an immense number of 
minute elongated sacs 
intermingled with 
empty threads. Each 
sac (Fig. 8) contains 
eight spores of an oval 
form arranged obliquely. 
When the spores are 
ripe, the top of the sac 
splits off like a little cup 
and allows them to es- 
cape. One cannot realise the enormous number of spores which 
are produced by a single cup. These innumerable spores are 
carried about in the air, and wherever they settle on the bark 
of a young larch and find sufficient moisture to cause them to 
germinate and enable them to push their minute roots into the 
rii:. c. 
ricce of bark wltli fniits of tlie canker fuii},'us. 
Natural s-lzf. 
