Order Hyjienomycetes. Tribe Pileati. 



Plate II. 



BOLETUS ELEPHANTINUS, maennff. 



Elephant Boletus. 



Oeu. Char. Ilymenium distinct from tlic substance of the pileus, consisting of cylindric separable tubes. Name 

 from jSuXof, a ball; from the rounded form of many of them. 



Spec. CJiar. Boletus elephantinus. " Pileus dead white, convex, but very ii-regular in shape, from an inch 

 to four inches across, downy in the depressed parts, cooping iu, and so thick in flesh as to leave but little space for 

 the tubes. Tubes yellow, short, the longest not more than one-third of an inch, adhering tirmly to the pileus ; 

 pores very small, circular. Stem yellow, from one to two inches high, and nearly as much in diameter. I named 

 it from its thick clumsy stem and its general massy appearance." — Withering's Arrangement, 3rd (not the modern) 

 edition. 



Ilab. Grassy pastures. 



Whether this Boletus has any right to rank as a distinct species, or is only a yellow variety of the bloody- 

 crimson Boletus Satanas, tlie two differing in mere colour as phajnogamous plants may, — petals being 

 blue, white, or pink not affecting the classification of the flower, — we are not bold enough to decide. The 

 crimson-pored Satanas, and this yellow-pored species, resemble each other closely in configuration and 

 general characteristics, with the exception of colour ; black and white drawings of each, might pass for the 

 other. In this dilemma, both being so nearly allied to B. luridus, that possibly they may be only varieties 

 of that Protean Toadstool, we have thought it better to distinguish the present subject as B. elephantinus 

 of "Withering, which it answers well to, tjian to place it as B. luridus, var. a or 3, disclaiming any intention 

 of amplifying species ; if hereafter B. Satanas is proved to have satisfactory specific differences, such as 

 ought to remove it from B. luridus, this B. elephantinus must go with that gorgeous Blutpiltz, as being 

 decidedly its nearest relative. 



If B. elejihaiitinus had only once occurred, it might have been allowed that, owing to the absence of the 

 colour-giver, sunshine, or some cause inimical to brilliancy, it had remained pale, and unadorned with the 

 ruby which ought to have tinged the orifices of the tubes (for in all the lurid varieties the crimson hue is 

 merely superficial, or at the mouth, not extending up the tubular processes, and fades, or becomes obscured 

 in age by the ripening spores) ; for three or four seasons, however, at nearly the same summer period, and on 

 the same spot, a deep grassy field near woods, our yellow-pored friend recurred without change or variation, 

 so that it is quite constant to the same development and colouring. 



The pileus in youth resembles a dumpling, which homely comparison must be excused for its aptness ; 



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