FUNGI AND LICHENS. Ill 



There are two or three kinds of 'Boletus less common 

 In woods, with the under-side of the cap either of a 

 blood-red colour, or of a lurid red colour, and these 

 are dangerously poisonous. When one of them is cut 

 down the centre, in the manner just suggested, the 

 flesh almost instantly becomes of an intense blue 

 when exposed to the air. 



The habitual rambler in our woods cannot fail to 

 have observed on old trees, certain hard, semicircular 

 excrescences projecting from the trunks, which re- 

 quire some considerable force to remove. The 

 upper side is more or less corrugated, sometimes 

 smooth, sometimes woolly, according to the species, 

 but always firm, except in the young state of a few 



SULPHURY POLYPORUS. 



kinds. The under-surface is punctured with pores, 

 like pinholes, in the same manner as in the Boletus. 

 The substance of these fungi is hard and woody, 

 usually brownish ; if cut into slices and well beaten 

 the texture resembles that of soft leather. In Ger- 

 many two or three of these species of Polyporus are 

 collected in the forests, cut into slices, and beaten 



