4 BULLETIN 496, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
inous fungus {Exidia gl-andulosa) found at irregular intervals along 
the twigs and small branches. Its action on the wood is to produce 
whitish rotten areas, usually extending entirely through the branch, 
thus forming a line of weakness which ultimately causes the branch 
to break into small sections (2 to several inches long). These pieces 
fall to the ground, where complete disintegration follows. 
Mtridius corium. Hymcnochaete curtisii. Diatrype stigma, and 
Stereum hirsutum are other fungi occasionally found attacking the 
twigs and small branches, while Jlerulius tremelJosus. Polystictus 
perga?nenus. P. versicolor. Polyporus gilvus. P. cinnabarinus. P. 
benzoinus, Lenzites betulina, Flammula sp., Panus stipticus-. Stereum 
spadiceum. Lycoperdon pyriforme. Xylaria hypo-i-yloiu and several 
species of Poria are occasionally found rotting logs, stumps, and 
large branches. 
Panus stipticus. Flammula sp.. Merulius tremellosus. Xylaria- 
hypox-ylon. and Lycoperdon pyriforme are fungi which apparently 
attack wood which has been more or less rotted by other fungi. 
Polystictus pergamenus. P. versicolor. Polyporus gilvus. P. cinna- 
barinus. P. lenzoinus. and Lenzites betulina rot both the sapwood 
and heartwood. but unfortunately none of them are common on oak 
slash in the forests of Arkansas. Xone of the fungi found rotting 
the oak slash produces a heart rot in the living tree. However, cer- 
tain fungi which cause heart rots in living oak trees will continue to 
grow in the infected wood after the trees are felled. The most impor- 
tant of these are Llydnum erinaceus. Polyporus pilotae. P. sulphu- 
reus, and Stereum. sub pile at urn-. 
BRUSH WHEN" PULLED. 
Soon after a living tree is felled, wood-boring insects and various 
fungi begin their work of disintegration and decay. The first evi- 
dence of fungous activity in slash is a discoloration of the sapwood 
in the twigs, branches, and trunks, which usually begins a few 
months after the trees are felled. Marked evidences of decay in the 
shape of well-denned rotten spots and areas in the wood and the 
formation of fruiting bodie> or sporophores of the wood-rotting 
fungi do not appear until one or two years after the trees are felled. 
All of the leaves in the tops of felled oak trees will usually fall hi 
from one to three years, depending more or less upon the age of the 
leaves at the time the oak was cut and to a slight extent on the 
locality in which the timber is situated. 
The small branches and twigs gradually rot. and the majority of 
them will have fallen to the ground at the end of four years. By 
the end of six years practically all of the branches in the tops will 
have rotted and fallen except some of the very large ones which 
have much heartwood. Also, practically ail of the sapwood in the 
boles and cull los:s will have rotted away during this time. 
