[Vor. 4 
238 ANNALS OF THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN 
of Merulius have the hymenium even in some small, im- 
mature fructifications and with a broad, marginal, even 
region in larger ones, it is necessary to see fully mature and 
well-developed fructifications to be certain that a collection 
of one of these connecting species is a Coniophora rather 
than a Merulius. The absence of a definite statement by 
De Candolle on this point led Fries to question the generic 
position of Coniophora membranacea DC. 
The dark color of spores in the mass in spore collections 
is a decisive character for distinguishing some species of 
Comophora from Corticium and Peniophora. In working 
with dried herbarium specimens which lack spore collections, 
if the natural color pigment of sections is destroyed and 
bleached by KHO solution, some sections should be treated 
with laetie acid to determine whether the spores are hyaline 
or pigmented like the hyphae. In my experience lactic acid 
does not change a common, ochraceous, fungous pigment 
which is dissolved and bleached by KHO solution. 
All our species of Coniophora are saprophytic on wood and 
cause dry rot of the wood. The most of these species are rare 
or have been collected infrequently, and record is lacking of 
the extent of rot which they cause. Соторһоға cerebella, 
more commonly called C. puteana, is common and widely dis- 
tributed throughout the northern United States and Canada. 
It is very destructive to structural timber of coniferous 
species if poorly seasoned or if used in moist places where 
there is a poor circulation of air or if used in contact with 
the ground without previous treatment with a wood preser- 
vative. In the United States this species seems to be as im- 
portant an agent of timber decay as the Merulius lacrymans 
group of species is in Europe. While Coniophora cerebella 
attacks chiefly coniferous timber of buildings, bridges, docks, 
ete., in forests it is often found on logs of deciduous species. 
C. arida is another species of this genus so common as to be 
of economic importance. This species has been collected but 
rarely on other than a coniferous substratum; it ranges 
rather farther south than the general range of C. cerebella 
but has not been received from farther south than Louisiana. 
