340 MURRILL : POLYPORACEAE OF NORTH AMERICA 



Peck was led to separate the rather rare dimidiate form of this 

 species found on the trunks of trees under the name P. hispidioides, 

 because of its resemblance to P. hispidus. 



All of these forms and others which have received no distinct 

 names seem to grade imperceptibly into one another, so that their 

 separation would seem impossible even if desirable. The plant is 

 an illustration of one of those unsettled types found more than once 

 in this family which are blessed with overflowing exuberance of 

 vitality and have several ways of expressing it. Thus, for example, 

 while it usually attacks coniferous trees it may also be found on 

 deciduous wood ; while occurring commonly on the roots or at 

 the base of its host, it may ascend to a height of fifty feet on the 

 trunk, and while usually central-stemmed, the stipe may be lateral 

 or even wanting. It is a very fine, large, highly-colored plant, 

 well-known for its destructive effects upon coniferous trees both in 

 Europe and America. Specimens nearly two feet in diameter were 

 collected the past summer on the roots of larch trees at Mendel 

 Pass in the Italian Tyrol. 



According to Schrenk, who has studied the species in New 

 England, the fruit bodies appear in July and August and are 

 greedily devoured by beetles soon after the spores are matured. 

 During the discharge of the spores, drops of a yellow liquid were 

 collected by him from the hymenium, which were found to contain 

 certain fungous sugars. It is probable that these sugars have 

 something to do with the distribution of the spores among the 

 roots of new host plants. 



Some of the localities where this widely distributed fungus has 

 been collected are given below. It is not rare in Asia and Europe 

 and seems even more abundant in North America : Finland, Kar- 

 sten ; England, Plowright ; Tyrol, Brcsadola & Murrill ; Newfound- 

 land, Waghorne ; Canada, Macoun ; Vermont, Burt ; Connecticut, 

 White ; New York, Earle, Peck ; New Jersey, Ellis ; Delaware, Com- 

 mons ; Oregon, Carpenter ; Washington, Macbride ; South Carolina, 

 Shear; Louisiana, Langlois ; Alabama, Earle & Baker; Mexico, 

 Smith. 



COLTRICIA S. F. Gray, Nat. Arr. Brit. PI. I : 644. 1S21. 

 Strilia S. F. Gray, Nat. Arr. Brit. PI. 1 : 645. 182 1. 

 Polystictus Fr. Nov. Symb. 70. 1851. 



