sap of the poor old Ash Pollard, apparently not much modified, but it was not subjected to strict chemical 

 analysis ; it could not be turned to any use we could discover. Wlien boiled down it resembled bad treacle, 

 but possessed none of the quahties or flavour of ketchup. 



The stems when properly prepared, furnish razor strops ; to tliis end it is necessary that the substance 

 should be fully ripe, otherwise it is too succulent and shi-inks; pieces free fi'om insect holes should be 

 selected, and slowly dried beneath heavy pressure ; afterwards they may be pared down to a plane surface, 

 proper for use. We have a piece gathered by a friend forty years ago, and used as an admirable sharpener 

 of pen-knives ever since ; it is not corky in texture, not being so elastic or impressionable ; but approaches 

 more nearly to the best sole-leather. 



With regard to the dimensions acquired by P. squamosus, in the lane between Hayes and Addington, 

 in 1846, twenty-five pounds of fresh flourishing lobes were taken from one old Ash stump, and even larger 

 remains of a previous season's growth were visible. In Hooker's Flora Scotica mention is made of a mass 

 wliich acquired the weight of thirty-four pounds in three weeks, and measured seven feet five inches in cir- 

 cumference ; the more usual mode, however, in which it extends is in length, imbricated upwards and down- 

 wards, and it appears on the same tree for several successive seasons. Monstrous specimens of this Folyporus, 

 prevented from taking their natural expansion into a true pileus, and therefore acquiring a cristate or palmate 

 shape, (as is the case with P. snlphureus) have been erroneously considered as distinct species, and variously 

 named accordingly. B. Bangiferinus is one of these, and several other examples occur in the old authors. 

 The peculiar odour of our present PoJyporm is not easily described : Withering calls it a " rank Fmigous 

 smell." The scent serves to distinguish it decidedly from any other, and no one considers it agreeable. 

 " Pileus pale buff, with feather-Kke scales of a deeper dye, sometimes with a tinge of red, semi-circular, or 

 fan-shaped, from five to fourteen inches over. Flesh wliite, firm, elastic. Stem lateral, dark-coloured, 

 wliite withm, from one to two inches long and as much in breadth." To these particulars it only now , 

 remains to add, that a greenish hue is given to old plants by minute Algse, and one pileus lying over 

 another frequently deposits upon it a wliite bloom or dust which is the ejected spores. 



