24 THE POLYPORACEAE OF WISCONSIN. 



Description of Species. 



1. SOLENIA Hoffm. 



Plants belonging to this genus are without a pileus. They are sim- 

 ply a collection cf tubules united at their base by a few loose mycelial 

 hyphae. Massee, Hennings and others have placed the genus near 

 Cyphella under the Thelephoraceae. Fries was the first to put it with 

 the Polyporaccae on the assumption that in Solenia ' ' only the layer of 

 pores is present without a real fruit body." 



Solenia anomala (Pers) Fries. (Plate I, fig. 1). 



Tubules usually crowded, short-stiped, pyriform, regular, pilose, 

 yellowish to ferruginous; margin of the tubes usually incurved. In- 

 ner surface of the tubes whitish ; spores egg-shaped, hyalin, 4x6 mi- 

 crons. 



Found at Ladysmith and at Madison on the bark of fallen oak twigs, 

 on the bark of fallen alder twigs near Mud Lake near Crandon, For- 

 est County, and on alder twigs near Bangor, La Crosse County. 



The patches measure from 2 to 10 cm. in length and from 0.5 to 2 cm. 

 in width. The tubules measure from 1 mm. to 2 mm. in height and 

 from .5 to 1 mm. in diameter. The spores measure 2 by 7 microns. 

 They are rod-like and slightly curved. The basidia which line the 

 tubes are whitish, closely packed long and narrow, measuring 20 mi- 

 crons in length, and from 2 to 3 microns in diameter. 



Following are the characteristics upon which identification is based : 



Color: Golden brown to dull ferruginous. 



Pileus: None. 



Tubes: Small, crowded, pyriform, mouths usually closed, but open 

 on being moistened. 



Habitat: Encrusting fallen twigs. 



Syn. Cypliella fasciculata (Schw.) B. & C. 



Solenia villosa Fries (Systema, II, p. 200). 



Tubules nearly cup-shaped when young, later cylindrical, growing in 

 groups, clearly pilose, whitish. Growing on decayed wood. 



Apparently rare. One specimen was found near Madison, and one 

 near Mud Lake near Crandon. The tubules in this species are not 

 crowded as those in the preceding one, nor are they as large. They 



