SOME NOTEWORTHY POLYPOROIDS. 



We continue from page 29 our account of the most remarkable 

 polyporoids that form "new genera" for those who are hunting that 

 kind of game. 



POLYSTICTUS CONCHIFER (Fig. 366). A curious Poly- 

 stictus grows commonly on fallen elm branches in the United States. 

 It produces at the base little sterile disk-like pilei, and their develop- 

 ment is somewhat of a mystery. The fertile pileus is flabelliform, ta- 

 pering to a short stem with a disk-like base. It is pure white, glabrous, 

 and not zoned. The pores are white, rather large, and often sinuate. 

 The sterile portions are the most interesting part, for as far as known 

 no other species produces similar. They are to me somewhat of a 

 puzzle, for I do not know exactly how or why they are produced. It 



Fig. 366. 

 Polystictus conchifer. Fig. 365 shows old sterile cups. 



is the general impression that the fertile pilei grow from these sterile 

 cups. I think this was Morgan's view. I am not so sure that this 

 true. The fertile portion falls away each year, but the cups are per- 

 sistent and are found in the spring as shown in figure 365. I think, 

 however, they do not produce new pilei the second year. I have never 

 seen any so produced. On the other hand, I often find fertile pilei 

 without any sign of a cup. One large collection I made of two 

 three hundred pilei has very few "cups," and those that occur have 

 evidently been developed on the new pilei. My present belie 



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