SPORES HYALINE. 



hornbeam around Cincinnati. It is bright, orange yellow color when 

 in its prime, but pales out when it gets old, and when dried loses all 

 yellow and becomes dirty, distorted, reddish brown, and a miserable 

 affair. The pores have some resinous principle apparently, and dry 

 agglutinate, hard, and darker than the flesh. There is a similarity 

 between the way these pores dry and those of Polyporus fissilis. In 

 Europe this species was named by Persoon, and although rare it has 

 never had any confusion in Europe (excepting misdeterminations at 

 Berlin). In America, Schweinitz, Berkeley, and Atkinson have each 

 discovered it to be a "new species." Schweinitz called it Polyporus 

 Pilotae, and this name has been generally used (Morgan, Long). 

 Berkeley called it Polyporus hypococcinus, and admitted it was same 

 as Pilotae. And, finally, Atkinson, in blissful innocence that the 

 plant had been known to every fungus worker under several names 

 for eighty odd years, discovered as late as 1902 that it was a "new 

 species," Polyporus castanophilus. Murrill was the first to suggest 

 that the American and European plants are the same. We were able 

 to demonstrate it when we collected plants in both countries. 



ILLUSTRATIONS. Although in its prime the most showy Polyporus that grows, no colored 

 plate has ever been made of it. Sturm, fasc. 27, plate 1, is an evident misdetermination for Polyporus 

 rutilans; and German mycologists have perpetuated the mistake to this day. 



SPECIMENS. A number from Europe and America and exactly the same. 

 Compare castanophilus, endocrocinus, hypococcineus, Pilotae, Pinicanadensis. 



POLYPORUS BENZOINUS. Pileus dimidiate, imbricate, usu- 

 ally three to four inches in diameter. Surface dark, chocolate brown, 

 hispid, hairy when young; when old, matted tomentose, marked with 

 metallic, bluish zones. Flesh pale brown (clay color when dry), drying 

 firm. Pores small, round, firm, w T ith colored tissue, and, when fresh, 

 white mouths, bruising brown. Spores 2x5, hyaline, cylindrical, 

 curved. 



This is a frequent species in Sw r eden on Abies stumps, in America 

 more rare. In England it has only recently been recorded. Freshly 

 dried specimens are fragrant, and it has been confused in one of the 

 latest English books with Trametes odorata, with which it has noth- 

 ing in common excepting the "smell." In Europe it is known by 

 Fries' name, Polyporus benzoinus, by all law-abiding citizens. Quelet 

 dug up an old name from Scopoli, Polyporus fuliginosus, which he 

 alleged is the same, and Murrill follows the allegation, applying it, 

 however, to a different plant. Hennings believed it was Polyporus 

 cuticularis, and specimens so named are exhibited in the Museum at 

 Berlin. 



ILLUSTRATIONS. Fries, t. 183, good, but rather represents the next; Kalchbrenner, t. 36, 

 f. 1, good, but misnamed, Kalchbrenner having been a better artist than he was a mycologist. Rea 

 Trans. Brit. Soc., 1905, t. 12, correctly named, but badly colored, Rea being the contrary. 



SPECIMENS. Mostly from Europe. It is rare and hard to distinguish from Polyporus fuscus 

 in the United States. 



Compare morosus, Pinisilvestris, also Fomes fuliginosus, resinosus. 



333 



