[Vol. 2 



722 ANNALS OF THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN 



b 



Trametes Pini var. Abietis, and that name has also appeared 

 in the American literature. The writer has not seen Karsten's 

 types and his opinion as to the synonymy of the species of 

 Peck and Karsten is based entirely on the use of the names 

 in this country and on the fact that T. Pini var. Abietis, as 

 distributed by Romell, 1 is certainly to be referred to Peck's 

 species. In the case of Polyporus piceinus and Trametes 

 Pini, however, the evidence is not so clear, and there are yet 

 mycologists who distinguish between the two species. 



Peck has stated 2 that the pileus of T. piceinus is persist- 

 ently tomentose, while that of T. Pini is not tomentose, and on 

 this ground and also in view of the fact that the former is thin 

 and applanate while the latter is thick and ungulate, the two 

 have been kept apart to some extent, though Murrill, in 1908, 

 declared them to be not specifically distinct. During the sum- 

 mer of 1913 and again in 1914 the writer had the privilege of 



in the almost unexplored (mycologically) region of 

 the Rocky Mountains in central Colorado. Here the forests 

 are principally composed of the lodge-pole pine (Pinus Mur- 

 rayana) and the Engelmann spruce (Picea E n g elmannii) , the 

 former genus being the typical host of T. Pini and the latter 

 the same for T. piceinus. No extensive field observations had 

 been previously reported as to the intermingling of these sup- 

 posed species of fungi, and the opportunity was taken to pro- 

 cure some notes on the subject. In that region the species 

 is more abundant on the spruce than on the pine, probably 

 because the best spruce forests follow the courses of the 

 streams, while the pine often represents the only tree growth 

 on the mountain sides and in the higher parts of the mountain 

 parks where the soil often contains a higher percentage of 

 sand. Such forests are not dense and quickly become dry, 

 unless kept moist by daily rainfalls. Hence the statement 

 that T. Pini is more often found on spruce in that locality is 

 not surprising. In one instance in an area of no more than 

 four square feet on a spruce snag the writer counted 18 sporo- 

 phores, and of these about half were the T. Pini form and 



1 Fung. Scand. 7. 



2 Rept. N. Y. State Mua. 54: p. 170. 1901. 



