134 STUDIES OF AMERICAN FUNGI. 



LENTINUS Fr. 



The plants of this genus are tough and pHant, becomuig hard 

 when old, unless very watery, and when dry. The genus differs 

 from the other tough and pliant ones by the peculiarity of the gills, 

 the gills being notched or serrate on the edges. Sometimes this 

 appearance is intensified by the cracking of the gills in age or in 

 drying. The nearest ally of the genus is Panus, which is only sep- 

 arated from Lentinus by the edge of the gills being plane. This does 

 not seem a very good character on which to separate the species of 

 the two genera, since it is often difficult to tell whether the gills are 

 naturally serrate or whether they have become so by certain tensions 

 which exist on the lamelUi? during the expansion and drying of the 

 pileus. SchrcEter unites Panus with Lentinus (Cohn's Krypt. Flora, 

 Schlesien, 3, i ; 554, 1889). The plants are usually very irregular 

 and many of them shelving, only a few grow upright and have reg- 

 ular caps. 



Lentinus vulpinus Fr. — This is a large and handsome species, having 

 a wide distribution in Europe and in this country, but it does not 

 seem to be common. It grows on trunks, logs, stumps, etc., in the 

 woods. It was quite abundant during late summer and in the autumn 

 on fallen logs, in a woods near Ithaca. The caps are shelving, closely 

 overlapping in shingled fashion (imbricated), and joined at the nar- 

 rowed base. The surface is convex, and the margin is strongly 

 incurved, so that each of the individual caps is shell-shaped (con- 

 chate). The surface of the pileus is coarsely hairy or hispid, the 

 surface becoming more rough with age. Many coarse hairs unite to 

 form coarse tufts which are stouter and nearly erect toward the base of 

 the cap, and give the surface a tuberculate appearance. Toward the 

 margin of the cap these coarse hairs are arranged in nearly parallel 

 lines, making rows or ridges, which are very rough. The hairs and 

 tubercules are dark in color, being nearly black toward the base, 

 especially in old plants, and sometimes pale or of a smoky hue, espe- 

 cially in young plants. The pileus is flesh color when young, becom- 

 ing darker when old, and the flesh is quite thin, whitish toward the 

 gills and darker toward the surface. The gills are broad, nearly 

 white, flesh color toward the base, coarsely serrate, becoming cracked 

 in age and in drying, narrowed toward the base of the pileus, not 

 forked, crowded, 4-6 mm. broad. The cap and gills are tough even 

 when fresh. The plant has an intensely pungent taste. 



Figures 128, 129 represent an upper, front, and under view of 

 the pilei (No. 3315, C. U. herbarium). 



