CLASSIFICATION 



Lentinus 



Up to the present all the species of fungi dealt with have been 

 of a putrescent nature, that is, the}/ perish almost immediately 

 after their full development ; whereas in the present genus the 

 members are more or less woody or corky in consistency, very firm 

 or even hard, especially the stem, and persist for quite a time after 

 their complete development. 



The genus manifests considerable variety of form ; the chief 

 features to be kept in view are the tough, woody or corky texture, 

 and the more or less decurrent gills, having the thin edge or margin 

 irregularly toothed or torn. The cap is always more or less ir- 

 regular in form, usually depressed, sometimes scaly. The gills 

 are sometimes deeply decurrent, at others only slightly so, but 

 the edge is always more or less broken. The stem is hard and 

 woody, sometimes rooting or penetrating the matrix. It may be 

 central, excentric, or placed towards one side of the cap ; lateral 

 or growing from the edge, or it may be entirely absent. 



One species, L. lepideus, is very destructive to worked wood, 

 and does very considerable damage to railway sleepers in the United 

 States. It is also common on the wood used for props in coal-pits, 

 etc., in this country, wliere it often assumes very grotesque forms 

 when grown in darkness. All the species grow on wood, and none 

 are edible. 



Paniis 



This genus agrees with Lentinus in many particulars, and unless 

 care is exercised there will be trouble in clearly discriminating 

 between the two. The dry, tough, leathery consistency is common 

 to both, as is also the decurrent gills and the excentric or lateral 

 stem, or the entire absence of the stem. The only absolute point 

 of structural difference between the two genera lies in the fact that 

 in Lentinus the edge of the gill is toothed or broken (sometimes a 

 pocket-lens character), whereas in Partus the edge or margin is 

 entire or unbroken, like the edge of a good razor. In both genera 

 the edge of the gill is thin or sharp. The cap is always more or 

 less irregular in outline in the higher forms, often wavy, stem 

 excentric, gills narrow, often very narrow, thin, and closely crowded, 

 decurrent, and running down the stem for some distance as lines. 



In another section of the genus the stem is lateral, often wevy 

 short ; here the cap is flat or oyster-shell shaped, and generally 

 more or less scurfy. The species are small, rarely exceeding an 

 inch across the cap. One common species belonging to this section, 

 called P. stypticus, has a very hot and pungent taste. In a third, 

 degenerate section the stem is entirely absent, the cap being either 

 attached by one edge to the matrix, or resupinate. 



All the species grow on wood or branches. None are edible. 



