312 Transactions. — Botany. 



If time permitted I should like to make some distinct obser- 

 vations, illustrating several of those new genera, for they are 

 very heterogenous, and widely differing in appearance and in 

 substance in all manner of ways ; such, however, are the usual 

 and common features of this vast order. 



Those new species vary in shape, in size, in colour, and in 

 substance, in hardness and in softness, in durability and in 

 fugacity, in toughness and in brittleness. Some possess striking, 

 brilliant, and beautifully varied colours, of which a bright-red 

 not unfrequently predominates : others are elegantly zoned, and 

 plaited, and frilled with varying neutral colours regularly dis- 

 posed ; of such are Polyporus versicolor, and Stereum lohatum ; 

 some have a rich lustrous satiny appearance, others are velvety, 

 while others are opalescent, as Porta vincta ; some are black, as 

 Daldinia concentrica and Antennaria sx)s. ; while others, as Poly- 

 porus nivicolor, Fomes hemitrephus, and Calicium ochrolaceuin 

 var. spunieum, are of the purest white, which delicate virgin 

 unsullied appearance, unfortunately, they often lose in the most 

 careful drying ; some are of enormous size and aberrant forms 

 (as Fomes sps.), 2-3 feet long and proportionately thick, and no 

 two specimens of the same species alike in shape ; while others 

 are very regular, like little round black shining beads, as Coma- 

 tricha tyjjhoides; or minute cup-shaped flowers clustered together, 

 &?, ^cidium clematicUs ; or miniature birds' nests with eggs, as 

 Cyatlms, and Crucilndum sps. ; some are very hard, and also 

 perennial, so that an axe makes but small impression on them ; 

 while others are very soft and, indeed, ephemeral, dissolving of 

 their own accord in a few hours from their first sprouting into a 

 watery mass ! One or two species (notably Fuligo varians) re- 

 semble, when fresh, a light custard pudding, which, with careful 

 dryiug, turns to dust ! while others, as Trcwclla lutcscens var. 

 alba, assume the appearance of a delicate branching blomange, 

 which, curiously enough, when carefully dried, leaves no visible 

 residuum, save a dull shining mark on white paper as if a slug 

 or a snail had sojourned there. Some are cancellated, hollow 

 and light, like fine net- or lattice-work ; others are solid and 

 heavy ; some take the appearance of old worn chamois-leather 

 (as Xylostroma sp. ; some are very tough, so that they are 

 gathered from their matrix, or substance to which they adhere, 

 with extreme diCBculty ; others are so fragile, and withal per- 

 manent, as only to be found in perfection Avhere neither winds 

 nor rains can reach them, and though sometimes resupinate and 

 several inches long, can scarcely be laid hold of, or removed, 

 with the most cautious and tender handling. For such fairy- or 

 gossamer-like productions I usually carry a little tin box lined 

 with silver- or blotting-paper, and so manage to cut them down 

 and drop them into it without touching them ; but even this 

 delicate treatment is too coarse for some [Stenwniiis sps.), which, 



