although the quantity of liquid contained in the substance might be expected to flow out, as it does from 

 that of Tohjiwrus suJ_phnrev.s or FisfuUna hejMtica. In age it is much more dense, but still fibrous. A 

 representation of it in this state shall be shortly given, since otherwise the student may be greatly perplexed 

 in determining varying specimens of a Polyporus, sure to attract attention, as much as its beauty deserves it. 

 Our present subject is Boletus velutimis of Sowerby, who thus describes it : " Tliis Boletus has a pileus in its 

 early state so very like velvet, that the name could not be more apt ; when more advanced, it almost deserves 

 the term liispid, as it resembles plush ; afterwards it becomes black and rots ; the pores being at fii-st of a 

 wliitish or hght yellow-colour and short ; they grow longer and browner till they emit a yellow powder, which 

 is more easily seen, when its weight causes the threads of the spiders, which have run over the pores, to hang 

 down in festoons like B. hepaticus. The edges of the pores are sometimes perceptibly fringed. This Fungus 

 grows most commonly on Ajiple trees, and sometimes to a very large size." The Boletus spongiosus of 

 Lightfoot and Woodward, cited by Withering under the head "tubes wliite," is our youthful Polyporus 

 hispiidus, before the mouths of the tubes have opened to emit the yellow spores, which colour them at a 

 later date. This is stated to be " very elegant when young, turning quite black when old ; and on Ekns, 

 frequently to be seen as large as a peck measure, or to exceed the trunk of the tree in diameter." 



As Boletus hispidus of Bolton, Withering also places it among the " red-tubed " species. In age this is 

 not an incorrect statement, but it shows that the colour of the tubes is useless as a botanical distinction, par- 

 ticularly when, as is often the case, the orifices of the said tubes are of a different colour from the piped part 

 itself. We have had the wJiife state of the pored hj-menium, and the old dusky red state alluded to in the 

 above synonymes of P. hispid/is. In the yelloio state, which is the perfection of the plant. Withering de- 

 scribes it with liis usual felicity, under the head B. velutinus. " Tubes bright gold-colour, changing to a 

 brown-yeUow, half an inch long. Pores irregular in size, angular, light greyish-brown, apparently woolly, largest 

 towards the end of the pileus and oblong. Pileus a very large mis-shapen mass, covered with a stiff plushy 

 pile consisting of upright hairs, a quarter of an inch liigh. Colour silvery grey or greenish, changing to 

 brown-orange, and at length black. Sometimes twelve inches by seven and tiled one over the other ; the 

 surface rather like a sponge, porous and cavernous ; the colour varying from grey to green, from red-brown 

 to orange-brown. Ilesli several inches thick, chocolate-coloured with a rich red tinge, juicy. In the younger 

 state of the plant, the pile on the pileus consists of all colovu-s from pale yellow to deep brown-orange, and 

 when magnified appears composed of stars radiating from a centre. It is very beautiful seen tlu'ough an 

 eye-glass, but its beauty is soon destroyed on account of its tender juicy state. Mesh, tough, fibrous, 

 brown-yellow. On trees at Edgebaston. On the trunk of a fallen Oak, which had been stripped of its 

 bark about three years before, near Beoley in Worcestershire." 



