422 Murrill: Polyporaceae of North America 



above, woody below, tubes thin-walled, mouths polygonal ; spores 

 subglobose, smooth, hyaline. 



The type of this genus is Boletus distortus Schw. (Syn. Fung. 

 Car. 71. 18 1 8), a very variable species found about old stumps in 

 various localities in the Eastern United States. The name assigned 

 to the genus refers to the usual aborted form of the fruit body, in 

 which the tubes with their abundant contents appear prematurely 

 before the development of the pileus is complete. 



Abortiporus distortus (Schw.). 



Boletus distortus Schw. Syn. Fung. Car. 71. 18 18. 

 Polyporus abortivus Peck, Bot. Gaz. 6: 274. 1881. 



The ordinary form of the fruiting bod}' of this species has the 

 appearance of being badly aborted in its development, only a few 

 of the pilei reaching their full size. In its arrested form the pileus 

 is a mass of pores filled with spores. The species has been badly 

 confused with P. rufescens of Europe, but a study of that species 

 in the field easily shows a very marked difference. A small speci- 

 men of our plant is to be found in the Paris herbarium under the 

 name of Polyporus pulvillus Mont., but this name was never pub- 

 lished for it so far as I know. The specimen is from South 

 Carolina. 



This species occurs about stumps, roots and other dead wood 

 of deciduous trees, such as the oak, maple, Adanthus, etc. Its 

 distribution is quite general throughout the eastern part of North 

 America and it has been found as far west as Wisconsin and Texas. 



Exsiccatae : Canada, Dearness ; Connecticut, Earle ; Dela- 

 ware, Commons; New Jersey, Ellis; Pennsylvania,^?//, Gentry, 

 Herbst ; Ohio, Lloyd, Morgan, Dawson; Missouri, Dcmctrio ; 

 Wisconsin, Miss Patterson ; Alabama, Earle & Baker ; Louisiana, 

 Langlois ; Texas, Gentry. 



Cyclomycetella gen. now 



Hymenophore annual, tough, epixylous, sessile, anoderm, zon- 

 ate ; context thin, fibrous, brown, tubes short, thin-walled, mouths 

 polygonal, becoming concentrically elongated in some species by 

 the splitting of the radial walls ; spores ellipsoidal, smooth, 

 ferruginous. 



