156 1Raml)les witb nature Students 



experiment in that line, I know they would make 

 a perfectly wholesome dish for the table, as they 

 are the well-known Boletus edulis. 



The pileus is a rich shining brown colour above, 

 but when we examine it beneath we shall see, instead 

 of the gills of the agaric order, an orange- coloured 

 spongy substance consisting of tubes or spores. 



Other species of this order are woody excrescences 

 growing out of decaying tree-stems. A material 



HYDNUM REPANDUM. 



called amadou, used for making fusees, is obtained 

 from several kinds of polyporus. Yet another species 

 is Merulius lacrymans, so well known by the name 

 of ' dry rot,' which is far too frequently met with 

 in old timbered houses. 



As the threads of the mycelium penetrate the 

 wood, they reduce it at last to a state of absolute 

 rottenness. This process may go on quite secretly for 

 years, but suspicious cracks become apparent in our 



