MYCOLOGIA 
VoL. VII January, 1915 No. i 
A TIMBER ROT ACCOMPANYING HYMENO- 
CHAETE RUBIGINOSA (SCHRAD.) LfiV. 
(With Plates 149-151, Containing 30 Figures) 
H. P. Brown 
The Hymenomycetes among the fungi play the leading role in 
the disintegration and destruction of wood. Since Theo. Hartig’s 
first attempt at the scientific investigation of the decay of wood 
in 1833,® other workers have contributed from time, to time and 
as a result an extensive literature on this phase of m);cology has 
been gradually collected. 
Of the investigated forms, the Polyporaceae have been most 
extensively studied. This is due in part at least to their large, 
conspicious fruit bodies and the obvious relation between them 
and the decay resulting in the wood. Many other Basidiomy- 
cetes as well as Ascomycetes are wood-inhabiting, and interesting 
results have already been obtained from studies of isolated forms 
in various families. The field of research may be divided into 
two lines of effort ; to secure definite data on the chemical com- 
position of wood in general and of changes resulting from decay, 
and to augment our present field of knowledge of the decay of 
wood by a study of uninvestigated wood-inhabiting forms. The 
present study of Hymenochaeie rubiginosa (Schrad.) Lev. was 
undertaken with the latter point in mind.^ 
1 This work was carried on in the Botanical Laboratory of Cornell Uni- 
versity under the direction of Prof. Geo. F. Atkinson, to whom the writer is 
indebted for the suggestion of the problem and for advice. 
[Mycoi.ogia for November, 1914 (6: 273-323), was issued December 10, 
1914] 
