437 
Williamson .— The Origin of ‘ Golden ; Oak. 
Hand sections were also made from the wood before it was subjected to 
any softening process. These were examined in air to obtain fungal hyphae 
and spores in position in the large vessels. Text-fig. i gives an illustration 
of the results obtained by such sections. The wall of the vessel is lined with 
a mass of hyphae from which hyphae, bearing sterigmata and conidia, pro¬ 
trude into the lumen. This section was taken from some of the original 
* golden ’ oak which had been soaked and left in damp air for eight months. 
The conidia are the shape, size, and colour of those of Eidamia catenulata. 
On the hyphae occurred glistening yellow globules of a substance exuded, 
in all probability, owing to the activity of the fungus, since the wood cells 
are dead. A substance similar in appearance also occurs in oak inoculated 
with spores of E. catenulata . 
Normal heartwood of Qiiercus robur shows large vessels in the spring 
wood and smaller vessels in the autumn wood, with fibres, wood parenchyma, 
and medullary rays of the two types, multiseriate and uniseriate. Tannin 
is present in cells of the medullary rays and in some of the wood parenchyma. 
A little starch is scattered sporadically in medullary ray cells or in wood 
parenchyma. 
Growth of the Fungus in the Wood. 
By examining sections from oak at different intervals of time after 
inoculation with E. catenulata it was possible to trace its course through the 
Text-fig. 2. Radial section of wood showing hyphae passing through pits in the walls of the 
tracheides. x 290. 
wood. The hyphae advance along the medullary rays, and they may be 
found in ray cells when they are absent from all neighbouring cells. They 
run in a transversely radial direction, always passing through the pits in the 
