POLYPORUS. 185 



nitely lateral or excentric, always black at the base. Growing on wood, and Polyporus. 

 not on the ground. 



A well-defined group. Species with excentric stems occur both in this and 

 in the former group, but the definitely black base at once distinguishes them. 



A. Lenti. Pileus fleshy-pliant, zoneless. Stem excentric, blackish at the 

 base. Tubes short. Substance pallid, somewhat fibrous. 



* Pileus scaly orfloccose. 

 ** Pileus even, very smooth. 



B. Suberoso-lignosi (corky-woody). Pileus thick, hard, zoneless. Stem 

 stout, vertical, of the same colour at the base. Pores elongated. Species not 

 closely allied to one another nor to the preceding group. 



III. MERISMA (ju.epi<Jw, to divide). Syst. Myc. i. p. 354. From a common 

 trunk or tubercle proceed very many pileoli, arising from the subdivision of 

 the primary pileus, which are at first, at least potentially, porous all over, but 

 the side which is turned to the light is sterile. (In dark underground places 

 they often remain club-shaped and porous.) Very handsome fungi, becoming 

 free, by far the largest of all fungi, composed of many small pilei cohering the one 

 with the other. 



A very distinct group, well marked off from the rest, and only verging back 

 by imperfect forms to the Mesopodes. 



A. Carnosi. Pileus fleshy, firm, flcccoso-fibrous, zoneless, not coriaceo- 

 indurated. Tufts central, stipitate, springing from a common base, more or 

 less concrete, so that in slender forms they occasionally resemble a central, 

 simple, lobed pileus. Pores separating from the pileus. White-spored, par- 

 tially growing on the ground, autumnal, all certainly edible. 



B. Lenti. Pileus fleshy-pliant then somewhat coriaceous, more or less 

 zoned, fibrous within. Pores adnate. Tufts lateral, somewhat stipitate, in 

 many imbricated layers, stems more or less connate, or growing from a common 

 tuber. White-spored, not edible, fragile when old, autumnal and not lasting 

 till the following spring, occurring at the base of trunks. 



C. Caseosi (caseus, cheese). Pileus cheesy, at first soft and juicy, then arid, 

 fragile, without a pellicle, zoneless ; pores separating. Tufts sessile on the 

 stems of trees , commonly dimidiate, but in a horizontal situation expanded on 

 all sides, central, at the first evolved from a single shapeless tubercle into numer- 

 ous pileoli. Acid. Occurring from spring through the whole summer, but soon 

 decaying. 



D. Suberosi (suber, cork). Pileus corky or coriaceous, persistent, tough ; 

 substance floccose, somewhat soft, suitable for tinder, pores adnate. Tufts 

 somewhat sessile, lateral or central according to situation, but the pileoli are 

 drawn together and free at the base and not effused. On trunks close to the 

 ground. Not edible. 



IV. APUS (a, without ; TTOV'S, a foot. Sfemless). Pileus sessile, normally 

 adnate by a thickened and dilated base and dimidiate, or entire and attached 

 behind (commonly by an umbo), more rarely attenuated and sessile (a transi- 

 tion to the Pleuropodes], more frequently wholly resupinate (always abnormal 

 states ; the true Resupinati are very different having no pileus). Growing on 

 wood, very abundant, with an endless variety of forms. 



A. Anodermei (av, fie'p/oux, skin. Without a cuticle). Pilens without a cuticle, 

 consequently the naked surface is broken up into flocci or fibres, zoneless, but 

 within transversely zoned, or more or less fibrous. Always annual, somewhat 

 fleshy, and not reviving. 



i. Carnosi. Pileus cheesy, at first of a watery softness, fragile, flocculose 



