i66 APPENDIX, 



ccxiv. BOLETUS crujiaceus perennis mutabilis poris periturus. — Boletus- 

 p totem. cellulojus. Flo. Dan. Faf. 12. P. 9. 



VARIABLE BOLETUS. 



TAB. CLXVI. 



THIS plant I have obferved in its various ftate and ftages, for 

 a fucceflion of years, but never had the good fortune to dif- 

 cover its fructification till February, 1790, when I tound it on 

 fallen boughs of the birds' cherry tree, which lay in the damp 

 part of a wood, under putrid grais and weeds. 



The plant in its firft ftage, appears to be a white bylTus, in- 

 creafing in breadth, by ihooting white, foft, downy filaments, 

 from the margin, till it has attained its breadth, when it clofes its 

 margin, as at a ; and has then the appearance of a piece of thin, 

 white, foft lamb's (kin, full of pores with fhort tubes, or rather 

 of deep cells, which are feen magnified, while in a frefh ftate, at 

 b. After lying by me, on the table, for a little while, it ihrunk 

 in fubitance, and the pores then appeared contracted, as in 

 figure c. In this Itate it much refembles the Merula crifpata. 

 Flo. Dan. Faf. 12. P. 9. 



After the difappearance of thefe pores, the plant continues to. 

 grow in firmnefs and thicknefs ; the margin becomes lobed and 

 crenated, the furface leathery and fmooth, but fometimes teffilatcd 

 with irregular finufs or cracks, as at e ; by this time, the margin 

 begins to feparate from the wood, and the colour of the furface 

 changes from white to pale brown, when it greatly refembles the 

 Auricula corticalis of Bulliard ; at laft it changes to a dark 

 fufcous brown, as at d ; becomes dry, hard, and brittle; the 

 margin is more eminently raifed, and the underfide marked with 

 black circles ; it remains for a long time, and at lalt turns black 

 and moulders. 



