POLYPORUS. 229 



I. MESOPUS. 



Stem quite distinct, vertical or excentric, simple, not black at the 

 base. Pileus entire or excentric. 



Polyporus leucomelas. Fr. 



Pileus 2-5 in. across, expanded, margin often irregular, 

 silky or minutely squamulose, smoky black, sometimes with 

 dark olive tinge, flesh thick except at the extreme, acute 

 margin, whitish ; pores about -^ in. deep, rather large, un- 

 equal, greyish, decurrent ; stem 1-3 in. long, stout, rather 

 tomentose, similar in colour or paler than the pileus ; spores 

 cylindric-fusoid, pale brown, 10-12 X 4-5 p.. 



Polyporus leucomelas, Fries, Syst. Myc. i. p. 346; Stev., 

 Brit. Fung., p. 187. 



In pine woods, &c. Pileus often deformed, rather fragile, 

 stem variable in length, flesh turning red when bruised, 

 pores become blackish in drying, also inside of stem. Spores 

 of the Boletus type. Pores about | mm. diarn. 



Polyporus lentus. Berk. 



Pileus 1-2 in. across, thin, tough, coriaceous, umbilicate, 

 ochraceous or pallid, zoneless, squamulose especially when 

 young ; pores shallow, large, angular, often slightly elon- 

 gated radially, decurrent, dissepiments thin ; stem central or 

 excentric, 2 lines or more thick, ^-1 in. long, colour of the 

 pileus, variable, straight or curved, hispid or furfuraceous ; 

 spores elliptic-fusiform, colourless, 12 x 4-5 p.. 



Polyporus lentus, Berk., Outl., p. 237, t. 16, f. 1 ; Stev., 

 Fung., p. 187. 



On wood, furze stems, &c. Known amongst the British 

 mesopod forms by the large pores that average 1 mm. or 

 more in size. The pileus is sometimes entirely destitute of 

 scales, and the pores decurrent to the base of the stem. 



Pileus 1^ in. broad, convex, or slightly depressed, at first 

 furfuraceo-squamulose, reddish-brown, at length nearly 

 smooth, ochraceous, the margin fibrilloso-squamose, of a tough 

 fleshy substance. Pores large, rather deep, decurrent, 

 roundish or subquadrate, at first white, the edges slightly 

 toothed and powdered with the white oblong sporules. Stem 

 ^1 in. high, f in. thick, central, covered with pores to the 

 very base, only the lower ones are abortive, and their inter 



