i88 



RESEARCHES ON FUNGI 



Sparassis (Fig. 65) was placed by Patouillarcl and most 

 systematists in the Clavarieae because it was believed that the 

 hymenium was amphigenous, but Cotton has now shown that the 

 hymenium is limited to the lower sides of all the branches, how- 

 ever wavy their form may be. Cotton therefore holds the view, 

 with which I agree, that Sparassis must be removed from Clavarieae 



FIG. 65. Sparassis. Upper part of a fruit-body, four and one-half inches across. 

 On the left-hand side, the specimen has the characters of S. crispa and, on 

 the right-hand side, those of S. laminosa. Photographed by Miss E. M. Wake- 

 field at Woking, England. Natural width reduced by one-quarter of an inch. 



and be placed in the Thelephoreae near Stereum. 1 There can be 

 little doubt that the dorsiventrality of every part of each curled 

 branch of Sparassis is brought about by the stimulus of gravity, 

 and that the resulting ventrality of the hymenium is advantageous 

 for the dissemination of the spores. 2 



Some observations of my own on the position of the hymenium 

 in Sparassis crispa, which confirm and extend those of Cotton, 



1 A. D. Cotton, " On the Structure and Systematic Position of Sparassis," 

 Transactions of the, British Mycological Society, vol. iii, 1912, pp. 333-339. 



2 Cf. A. H. R. Buller, Researches on Fungi, vol. i, 1909, pp. 21-24. 



