[Vor. 1 
82 ANNALS OF THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN 
tempted to revise the genera of the Polyporacee but none of 
these classifications have been generally adopted by mycologists. 
Тһе family is here taken to include the following genera: 
Polyporus (including Polystictus), Fomes, Trametes, Dedalea, 
Lenzites, Cyclomyces, Favolus, Gleoporus, Merulius, and Гтрех. 
Distributed among these genera are practically one hundred 
species found within the state. Of these, 78 have been col- 
lected by the writer,4 others have been sent in by correspondents, 
and examination has been made of collections of 5 other species 
taken within the state and preserved either at the Lloyd Mu- 
seum at Cincinnati, or in the herbarium of the New York Botan- 
ical Garden. Of the remaining 12 species some are known only 
from the records left by Morgan, Lea, Montagne, Berkeley, 
and Kellerman, others are admitted because there is every reason 
to believe that they will be found within the state since they 
are known to have been collected in nearby counties of adjoining 
states. 
Тһе resupinate Polyporacee, usually included in the genus 
Poria, have been omitted from this paper. Very little is known 
in this country concerning these forms and very few authentic 
specimens were available for study and comparison. Most of 
the species that have been reported from this country have 
been based on scarcely more than a guess, and it is impossible 
for the amateur mycologist to determine his material from the 
confused and often fragmentary account that has been written. 
Until the genus has been thoroughly studied by a competent 
mycologist, only added confusion would result from anything 
more than a reference to it in this paper. 
In the preparation of the keys, relationships, both of genera 
and species, have been entirely ignored, the aim being to produce 
a usable key rather than to exhibit relationships. The writer 
believes that the color of the context is one of the most constant 
of the gross characters of these plants, and the genera are divided 
into sections on that basis. The presence or absence of a stipe, 
the duration of the plant, the hymenial configuration, the 
surface markings of the pileus, etc., are brought into the key 
in an order which the writer believes corresponds to their rela- 
tive importance as specific distinguishing characters. Spore 
characters, especially spore colors, are not used in the separation 
