lu its proper place we hope to follow liis good example, therefore now need make no further remark on 

 Amadou, than that our present subject is a pretender to the title. Folyporus clri/adens is not commonj and 

 is so remarkable from the raanner in which it is charged with moisture that it cannot be mistaken when met 

 with, as this peculiar talent for distillation is not possessed by any other of the tribe ; whether the liquor 

 thus abstracted from the parent oak by a natural alembic has properties more valuable than human art could 

 evolve, we do not know, but the astringent sub-acid flavoui' makes it probable that it contains the same 

 mediciaal properties as oak-baik, although beiag only a modification of the sap in a shghter degree. 



It is very variable in size and shape according to the site or season, and in colour, according to its age, 

 or exposure ; a specimen wliich grew in Hampshire to a very large size, being described as resembhng " very 

 homely pie-crust covered with scorched flom' ", tliis specimen was also composed of two or tlu-ee large, nearly 

 plane, pileate pieces, lying one over the other, and the dro])s of moisture were much less abundant and more 

 minute than in the Kentish sjiecimen according to its entu'e bulk. Hard and woody as P. ilrijadeus is when 

 dry it encloses iu its substance ivy, briars, or grass, wliich remain flourishing greenly, ia despite of the suifo- 

 catiug embrace of the Fungus which became efPused around them in a soft state ; tlris is the case with many 

 hard coriaceous members of the Poli/poru-s and Badalia tribes and proves how rapid their early developement 

 must have been. 



Angas mentions that, in the woods of New Zealand, large Funguses of these kinds stand out from the 

 parent trees so boldly and rigidly, as to make commodious seats ; he does not enter into any details as to 

 species, and it is a pity that intelligent travellers, who would blush to make any statements as to trees and 

 flowers that were not scientificaUy correct, dismiss poor neglected mycological specimens with " A Fungnas "; 

 let us hope there may yet be a " Diffusion of Knowledge " on this subject also. 



