[Vol. 12 

 240 ANNALS OF THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN 



Fructifications longitudinally effused, closely adnate, waxy- 

 soft, variable in color, pale olive-gray and pale olive-buff to fawn- 

 color in the herbarium, glabrous, even, not cracked usually, 

 rarely with a few fissures from contraction in drying, the margin 

 thinning out; in section 75-500 [l thick, not colored, composed of 

 densely interwoven, rather erect hyphae about 3 [x in diameter, 

 indistinct, with the wall gelatinously modified; no gloeocystidia; 

 cystidia not incrusted, tapering to a sharp apex, 3^-6 [i in di- 

 ameter, protruding up to 40 [i beyond the basidia; spores hyaline, 

 even, 4-5 X 1H~2 [x. 



Fructifications 3-12 cm. long, 1-3 cm. wide. 



Generally on old, decaying, coniferous wood, rarely on frondose 

 wood. Europe, Louisiana, and British Columbia. Throughout 

 the year. 



P. livida may be best recognized by its close resemblance in 

 aspect to even specimens of common Corticium lividum Pers., 

 from which the presence of cystidia separate it. P. livida is one 

 of the 3 species which European mycologists, following Bresadola, 

 have been inclined to regard as sufficiently meeting the original 

 description of Corticium seriale that one could ignore the fact 

 that the species concerned do not agree in structure with one 

 another, nor with any of the specimens in Kew Herbarium or 

 Fries Herbarium, determined by Elias Fries as Corticium seriale. 

 With regard to the appliability of the original description of 

 Corticium seriale, it emphasizes rimose and testaceous fructi- 

 fications which are not characters of P. livida. It might solve 

 the problem of Corticium seriale Fr. to search in Sweden for a 

 true Corticium which is testaceous and rimose and could be com- 

 pared with the specimen in Kew Herbarium determined by Fries 

 — something more like Corticium Cacao Karst, which has the 

 hymenium somewhat deteriorated in my specimen so that I can- 

 not be quite positive as to its genus from this specimen alone 

 but seems to me to be a true Corticium. 



Specimens examined: 

 Sweden : E. Fries, type, the thinner and paler of the specimens in 



Herb. E. Fries, determined by E. Fries as Corticium lividum; 



L. Romell, 108, 109; Femsjo, L. Romell, 410; Stockholm, 



L. Romell, 198, 326, 345, 362. 



