6 
Mycologia 
these grow everywhere on all sorts of timber their presence on 
apple is not particularly significant as causing the diseases of the 
living trees. A perennial form resembling the fire punk {Fames 
igniarius) occurs on a few apple trees just below the camp. On 
one of the trees the fungus has developed the fruit bodies on the 
cut ends of stubs of limbs, showing probably where the fungus 
gained entrance in years past through faulty pruning. 
But all these are doubtless comparatively secondary in causing 
the very destructive heart-rots found in these old orchards. A 
number of very conspicuous and striking forms which I have 
found are beyond doubt the main causes which limit the life of 
the orchard tree. This is not saying that these fungi are directly 
parasitic, but by eating out the heart-wood of the tree they lead 
to the breaking off of the larger branches and finally to the de- 
struction of the trunk. 
During the early part of August, Mr. Moldenke first called my 
attention to a cluster of “mushrooms” growing on the side of 
a living apple tree in an orchard through which the Columbia 
student surveyors were “ running a railroad.” The fungus had 
grown out from a small spot in the sap-wood and the line of decay 
was found to lead into the heart- wood, which was very badly 
rotted. Figure 2 on plate 173 shows such a punk as it grows on 
the living tree. Professor Finch a few days later located a simi- 
lar fungus oh a comparatively young apple tree near the cottage 
at South View Inn. This one grew out from a crack caused by 
the splitting of the trunk where a limb had been torn out (PI. 773, 
/. j). It was a beautiful milk-white cluster, so fragile that the 
slightest pull was sufficient to break off a piece. An old punk 
just below this cluster, evidently a growth of the preceding year, 
showed how discolored, hard, and leathery the fungus may be- 
come as it dries out. Two very beautiful specimens (PI. 773, 
/. 2, and PI. 174, f. 2) were found on a tree in Mr. Weik’s orchard. 
Several others were brought in during the middle of August from 
orchards in the vicinity. The specimens, while varying greatly 
in form and size, appear to belong to the same species. It is a 
form that first attracted the attention of Dr. Burt at Riverside, 
Maine, in 1898. He sent it to Professor Peck, New York State 
