The way of attack on Pine woodblocks of two brown-rot fungi (Fomitopsis pinicola, Coniophora puteana) differing in their cellulase activities, and one white-rot fungus (Trametes hirsuta) has been investigated by transmission electron microscopy. Even at early stages of decay, osmiophilic particles were found with all the fungi investigated. In the brown-rotted wood, the osmiophilic particles occurred within the hyphal protoplasma, around the hyphal wall and within the wood cell wall. With increasing cultivation time, an enrichment of the osmiophilic particles within the wood cell wall took place. In white-rotted wood, the particles were found only around the hyphal wall and also accumulated on the surface of the wood cell wall. No difference could be found between the two types of brown-rot fungi. It is suggested that the osmiophilic particles are produced by the fungi, being the agent of the wood decay. The random distribution of the osmiophilic particles within he wood cell wall in brown rot and the locally restricted appearance in white rot coincides very well with the degradation patterns of brown rot and white rot.

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