THE SECTION TABACINUS OF POLYSTICTUS' 



The group of species that was separated by Patoulllarcl under the 

 very inappropriate name Cyclomyces is a very natural group if one 

 disregards hymenial configuration. As to the color, texture, surface, 

 thickness, and general appearance they are much the same. In addi- 

 tion they are characterized by having on the hymenium colored setae 

 (often called cystidia) similar to those on which was based the genus 

 Hymenochaete in the Thelephoraceae. We look upon hymenial con- 

 figuration as of first importance, and hence do not take the section in 

 exactly the same sense as does Patouillard, excluding from it the cy- 

 clomycoid species, Cyclomyces fuscus. 10 



Color. The color of all specimens when dry is a dark brown, well desig- 

 nated by Montagne as tabacinus in the naming of the first species. Ail portions 

 of the plant, hairs, surface, context, and pores, are a very similar color. When 

 moist they are darker, almost black. 



Surface. All have pilei very similar as to the surface. It is unicolorous, 

 velvety with a thick coat of fine, silky hairs, and concentrically zoned, with 

 raised zones. One species could hardly be told from another from the upper 

 surface of the pileus. 



Spores. The spores are stated by Patouillard to be -white* 1 and I do not 

 question it, though I have not found them. Compare note 2, page i, of Hexagona 

 Synopsis. 



Colored setae. On all species there are abundant, sharp, dark-colored setae 

 on the hymenium. These are easily seen with a low power microscope. 



Distinction of species. The other characters being practically the same, 

 the only one on which species can be based is the size of the pores. These are 

 of three grades : 



Pores minute Polystictus tabacinus. 



Pores medium Polystictus iodinus. 



Pores large Polystictus cichoriaceus. 



While the usual collection can be referred to one or the other of these species 

 on the average pore size, no doubt many connecting sizes occur and all can 

 be referred to one "species" on the evidence of connecting forms. All species 

 favor the warm countries and are absent from Europe and from the United 

 States except in the South. The small pored specimens are more common 

 in tropical America, the larger pored specimens in the East. 



History. The first species reached Montagne from Chile and was named 

 Polyporus tabacinus. Next he got a slightly larger pored form from French 

 Guiana which was called Polyporus iodinus. Then Berkeley received the largest 



10 Pores of the larger pored species sometimes show a tendency to become cyclomycoid, 

 particularly in the one specimen known of Polystictus campylopprus. I have no doubt if we 

 knew all the connecting forms there would be a continuous series from Polystictus tabacinus 

 on one hand to Cyclomyces fuscus on the other. 



Mr. Murrill purloined the idea of this "genus" from Patouillard, and juggled the name 

 just a little to Cyclomycetella. He took as his type species Polystictus pavonius, which does 

 not belong to it and has little resemblance to it. When he found what blunder he had made in 

 publishing that Polystictus pavonius was a synonym for Polystictus iodinus he patched up the 

 matter with a new Juggle, this time Cycloporellus and a new "type species," Polystictus iodi- 

 nus. A "type species seems to be a movable affair that may be shifted around at pleasure 

 to meet the exigencies of the juggler. 



11 As an illustration of the modern method of discovering "new genera" now in vogue, 

 Mr. Murrill, when he discovered this "new genus," based it on the color of the spores, which 

 he states are brown, and includes it in the section with brown spores. The spores are stated 

 by Patouillard to be white, and no doubt truly. To make his inconsistency complete, 

 Mr. Murrill discovered a new species, barbatulus, or rather he discovered an old species, the 

 first one named tabacinus, which he called new, and described the spores as hyaline. If they 

 are hyaline I can not understand why he should include it in a new genus which he had dis- 

 covered, with "brown" spores as the type character. 



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