}
                throw new IOException("corrupted stream - high tag number < 31 found");
            }

            tagNo = b & 0x7f;

            // X.690-0207 8.1.2.4.2
            // "c) bits 7 to 1 of the first subsequent octet shall not all be zero."
            if (0 == tagNo)
            {
                throw new IOException("corrupted stream - invalid high tag number found");
            }

    }

    String readString( byte[] src, int srcIndex, int len ) {
        String str = null;
        try {
            if( useUnicode ) {
                // should Unicode alignment be corrected for here?
                str = new String( src, srcIndex, len, UNI_ENCODING );
            } else {
    
                /* On NT without Unicode the fileNameLength