440 MUSHROOMS, BDIBLB AND OTHERWISE 



branches tapering to a point. The spines grow from one side of the flattened 

 branches. It only needs to be seen once to be recognized as a coral-like mush- 

 room. It is pure white at first, becoming creamy or dingy-white with age. It 

 seems to delight in damp, hilly places, yet I found it to be abundant at Sidney, 

 and to some' extent about Bowling Green, Ohio, where it was very level. It is 

 plentiful around Chillicothe. One hickory log, from which the specimen in the 

 figure was taken, furnished me several basketfuls of this plant during three 

 seasons, but at the end of the third season the log crumbled away, mycelium 

 having literally consumed it. It is one of the most beautiful fungi that Dame 

 Nature has been able to fashion. It is said that Elias Fries, when a mere boy, 

 was so impressed with the sight of this beautiful fungus, which grew abundantly 

 in his native woods in Sweden, that he resolved when he grew up to pursue the 

 study of Mycology, which he did ; and became one of the greatest authorities of 

 the world in that part of Botany. In fact, he laid the foundation for the study 

 of Basidiomycetes, and this beautiful little coral-like fungus was his inspiration. 

 It is found principally on beech, maple and hickory in damp woods, from 

 July to frost. I have eaten it for years and esteem it among the best. 



Hydnum septentrionale. Fr. 

 The Northern Hydnum. 



Septentrionale, northern. This is a very large, fleshy, fibrous plant, growing 

 usually upon logs and stumps. 



There are many pilei growing one above the other, plane, margin straight, 

 whole. The spines are crowded, slender and equal. 



I have found a number of specimens about Chillicothe that would weigh 

 from eight to ten pounds each. The plant is too woody to eat. Besides, it seems 

 to have but little flavor. I have always found it on beech logs, from September 

 to October. 



A very large plant grows every year on a living beech tree on Cemetery Hill. 



Hydnum spongiosipes. Pk. 



Spongiosipes means a sponge-like foot. Pileus convex, soft, spongy-tomen- 

 tose, but tough in texture, rusty-brown, the lower stratum firmer and more 

 fibrous, but concolorous. 



The spines are slender, one to two lines long, rusty-brown, becoming darker 

 with age. 



The stem is' hard and corky within, externally spongy-tomentose ; colored 



