FUSCUS. CONTEXT BROWN. 



centric, raised ridges. Context thin, dark brown. Pores minute, 

 with concolorous tissue and darker mouths. Setae very few, slender. 

 Spores globose, 4-5 mic., very pale color. 



This is known, I believe, only from the type at Kew from Nicara- 

 gua. The determinations at New York are in error, also Baker's dis- 

 tribution No. 2259, so determined by Burt, which is Fomes rimosus, 

 with no remote resemblance to Fomes linteus. I am not even sure 

 that linteus is a Fomes. It seems harder, but it is very close to South- 

 ern forms of Polyporus gilvus, and the type has no layers of pores. 

 The "lime-white hairs" that clothe the pileus, according to Mr. Mur- 

 rill's account, are quite noticeable by their absence. 



FOMES CALCITRATUS. Pileus applanate, with thin edge, 

 with a hard, brown, smooth, sulcate crust. Context dark brown 

 (cinnamon). Pores very minute, concolorous, with hard pore mouths. 

 Setae rare. Spores (W.) colored, 5-6 mic. 



This, I think, is known only from the type (Wright 816) from 

 Cuba at Kew. At Paris and New York (also at Kew) Wright 264 

 (which is Fomes pseudosenex) , is labeled as being Fomes calcitratus, 

 and the account in N. A. F. was based on this mislabel. 



XOTE. Polyporus Caryophylleus from Brazil has been classed as a Fomes and would tall in 

 this section. It has rare, colored setae and colored spores. I think it is better classed as a lignescent 

 Polyporus. It must not be confused with Fomes Caryophylli from Java. 



7TH GENERAL DIVISION GANODERMUS. 



The section Ganodermus of Fomes rests on the spore character. The col- 

 ored spore has a hyaline membrane, which is large and projecting at the base 

 beyond the colored endospore. This empty base usually collapses, then the spore 

 becomes truncate at the base. In addition, the cortex is brown and the pores are 

 always devoid of setae. This section in the broad sense, as used by Patouillard, is 

 quite natural as far as spores and context are concerned. The name (as a genus) is 

 coming into use in Europe in this sense, chiefly due to having been adopted by 

 Bresadola, and is the only one of Patouillard 's polyporoid genera that Bresadola 

 recognizes. After struggling against it for twenty volumes, Saccardo finally suc- 

 cumbed in the twenty-first volume. In his previous volumes he had taken Gano- 

 dermus as a synonym for Fomes, which it is not, although a few Fomes are Gano- 

 dermus, and these alone are considered here under this head. The species of Fomes 

 in this section are very puzzling. There is little microscopic difference. The spores 

 are all very much the same, a little variation in size, but no more than is often 

 observed in different spores of the same specimen. Two of the rare species have 

 distinctly rough spores, but this helps but little, for the bulk of specimens have 

 smooth or punctate spores. The context color is quite similar. The main difference 

 is in the crust, which is quite marked in extreme forms, but runs together in such 

 gradations that it is difficult to use as a character. In old times it was customary 

 to call everything that grew in temperate regions in this section Fomes applanatus, 

 and in the tropics, Fomes australis. It was a practical idea at any rate, even if 

 most of the specimens could not be distinguished without the locality being known. 

 In modern days the tendency is just the other way, and tropical species are based 

 on indistinguishable characters that we are unable to follow. 



Large numbers of tropical collections have been secured for our museum, and 

 we have carefully worked them over and sorted them according to the most obvious 

 macroscopic characters. The most prominent distinction is a marked difference in 

 the relative weight. 



262 



