M thrill: Polyporaceae of North America 365 



2. Fomitella gen. nov. 



Type: Fomitella supina (Sw.) Murr. {Boletus supinus Sw. 

 Fl. Occ. Ind. 3 : 1926. 1806). 



Hymenium sessile, at times semi-resupinate, applanate, epixy- 

 lous ; surface glabrous, anoderm to encrusted, sulcate with age : 

 context woody or slightly punky, brownish-olivaceous, rarely 

 varying to pallid ; tubes minute, cylindrical, usually thick-walled, 

 rarely stratose : spores smooth, hyaline. 



Fomitella supina (Sw. ) 

 Boletus resupinatus Sw. Prod. 149. 1788. Not />'. resupinatus 



Fl. Dan. pi. 84.4. 

 Boletus supinus Sw. Fl. Occ. Ind. 3: 1926. 1806. 

 Polyporus valenzuelianus Mont. PI. Cell. Cuba 398. pi. 15. f. ./. 



1842. 

 Polyporus guadelupensis Lev. Ann. Sci. Nat. Bot. III. 5: 134. 



1846. 

 Polyporus hcmilatatsY). &. C. Jour. Linn. Soc. Bot. 10 : 312. 1868. 

 Polyporus plebeius cubcnsis B. & C. Jour. Linn. Soc. Bot. 10 : 313. 



1868. 



The brief description originally given of this species in the 

 Prodromus is slightly changed and much enlarged by the author 

 in his Flora of the West Indies. He had in the meantime dis- 

 covered that the plant is not always resupinate and that the earlier 

 name was preoccupied. The habitat is here given as "Trunks 

 of old trees in the mountains of Jamaica." 



Montague's description is characteristically complete and is ac- 

 companied by excellent figures. In commenting upon Berkeley's 

 opinion that P. valenzuelianus is identical with P. supinus of Swartz, 

 Montagne says that, if it is that species Swartz' name is "thor- 

 oughly inappropriate and repugnant." He then quotes Fries' com- 

 ment in Novae Symbolae to the effect that the two species differ 

 decidedly in color. 



Only one specimen of P. valenzuelianus, so named, is to be 

 found at Kew from the West Indies. The others are all from 

 South Carolina and Georgia. In the United States, specimens 

 have usually been determined as P. hemileucus B. & C, described 

 originally from Cuba and identical with P. valenzuelianus and P. 

 supinus. 



