34 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST, 



quenth' much branched, found on old logs and on the 

 earth in moist places. Alany of the H ydnacete resjmble 

 the Agaricace^e except that they have spines, teeth or 

 other projections on the under side of the cap instead of 

 gills. In the Boletaceas there are alarge number of species 

 that appear like the fleshy Agarics or mushrooms, but 

 upon looking on the under side of the cap We find in the 

 place of gills a cushion-like flesh full of minute round poresv 

 In the Polyporaccfe we find the same round pores on the 

 under surface, but the Polyporacese are mosth' one-sided 

 forms growing out like shelves from trees, living or dead, 

 and are usually corky or woody. The Boletaccce frequent^- 

 ly have a central stalk and cap like the common mush- 

 room and are more often fleshy. As a general rule, the 

 specimens in wdiich the pores are easily separated from the 

 cap, belong to the Boletaceae while those in which they are 

 firmly joined to the cap and to each other are members of 

 the Polyporace£e, In this latter family there are some 

 species in which the walls of the pores break down leaving 

 narrow labyrinthian passages. A common example of 

 this is Dsedalea quercina found on oak stumps. The 

 stink-horns belong to the Phallales,an order equal in rank 

 to the Agaricales. The Hymenogastrales contain the 

 truflHes and truffie-like plants and the Lycoperdales con- 

 tain the puif-balls and earth-stars. 



Rock-soil Floras.— The Rev. E. A, Woodruffe-Pea- 

 cock has issued an interesting pamphlet upon the subject 

 of the distribution of plants as influenced by the soil, in 

 which he maintains that at any given altitude a more 

 intimate relationship exists between plants and the soil 

 than between the same plants considered from any other 

 point of view. This he thinks is due to the chemistry' of 

 the various formations and their moi.sture and bacteria 

 containing capacity. He finds in an\' localitj' that the 

 abundance or scarcity of a given species depends primarily 

 upon the kind of soil tobe found. In making observations 

 along this line, botanizers may find a new field for theis" 

 efforts and one that should yield ver3^ valuable results. 



