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single or fused, and are, when fresh, of a brittle woody nature. On 
breaking across, the bracket is seen to consist of two layers, the 
upper of which is white and composed of fibres which run parallel 
to the surface, the lower bright orange coloured, and composed 
of tubes vertically arranged. The upper surface is zoned with 
alternate brown and pale yellow brown zones running parallel 
to the margin, while narrow wavy lines or striae run at right angles 
to the zones. The margin, especially in young fruits is yellow, aud 
the under surface is bright orange, studded with very small pores — 
the openings of the tubes mentioned above. The spores are borne on 
the sides of the tubes, and are shed from the pores. It must be 
mentioned, however, that the majority of the Fomes fructifications 
examined in this country are found to be sterile, i.e., bear no 
spores, and cannot assist in the spread of the fungus. 
The fructification may be found in another form — as a plate 
spread on the wood-— the exposed surface being orange coloured. 
This form is known as “ resup mate ” and is not common. 
The great majority of infections of Forties arise from contact, of 
mycelial strands, or pieces of diseased wood, with healthy roots. 
Artificial inoculations carried out by Bancroft to prove this point 
were very successful, giving positive results in 10 out of 14 cases. 
In the opinion of Bancroft, in Malaya the fungus occurs on all 
kinds of jungle timber, bard and soft, white and red ; so the selective 
clearing favoured in Ceylon is unsafe here. 
Attacks by Fomes are usually first detected at 12-18 months, 
and if properly treated, begin to diminish some time after the fourth 
year, owing to the decay of the jungle hosts of fungus. 
Sphserostilbe repens. 
This fungus was first recorded as a parasite on Hevea in 1907, 
in Ceylon ; when it was found to have killed three 25-year old trees. 
Richards first recorded it in Malaya, and Brooks described it in the 
Agricultural Bulletin of November, 1914. In Malaya the disease has 
so far occurred on low-lying lands — Petch, however, states that in 
Ceylon it is not, confined to low country. 
Attacked roots are characterized by a blueish -purple colour and 
an extremely unpleasant odour. There is no external mycelium, but 
between the wood and bark run rhizomorphs — fiat mycelial strands, 
red when young, turning black as they grow older. The disease 
sometimes travels up into the stem, after which borers often enter. 
The fructifications of this fungus are very minute and easily 
overlooked. The form most frequently found is the conidial — 
Stilbum stage — consisting of white or pink blobs about the size of a 
pin’s head, home on stalks about fth inch long, and hairy when 
young — spores are formed at the ends of the blobs. 
