CLASSIFICATION 405 



P. vaga. — Effused, greyish yellow, sometimes with a hiac tinge, 

 edge fibrihose, wrinkles slender, much interwoven, covered with 

 minute warts. 



Distinguished by the minutely papillose or warted ridges. 



On dead wood. 



P. lirellosa. — Resupinate, edge free, greyish umber ; wrinkles 

 thin, straight, branches, sometimes anastomosing to form pores. 



On wood, branches, etc. 



Thelephorace^ 



In this family the substance is dry, often open and fibrous in 

 texture, and includes some of the most primitive members included 

 in the large group called Basidiomycetes. The large genus Corti- 

 cium shows least differentiation in structure, being entirely attached 

 or adnate to the substance upon which it is growing, many species 

 being so thin in substance that they closely resemble a more or less 

 extended patch of paint on the wood. In this genus the hymenium 

 or spore-bearing surface, which covers the entire exposed surface 

 of the fungus, is perfectly smooth and on this point we must come 

 to a clear understanding. When a surface is described as smooth, 

 it does not mean that it is flat, but that it is neither downy, bristly, 

 warted, etc. ; hence a smooth surface may be wavy, crumpled, etc., 

 such markings being included under the term uneven ; it follows 

 that an uneven surface may be smooth, or glabrous. In the genera 

 Peniophora and Hymenochcete the general appearance and habit is 

 that of Corticium, but when carefully examined under a good pocket 

 lens the hymenium is seen to be covered with minute erect bristles 

 or cystidia. At this point it may be necessary to repeat the warn- 

 ing as to the importance of minute details. It may appear a trifling 

 matter as to whether the hymenium is smooth, or so minutely 

 bristly as only to be observed under a good lens, yet this point is 

 of importance. 



In the genera Stereum and ThelepJiora the simplest forms are 

 altogether attached to the substance they grow upon. In other 

 species a portion of the fungus becomes free and bends away from 

 the support, and this condition of freedom from the support be- 

 comes more and more marked, until finally the pileus assumes a 

 more or less mushroom-like or funnel-shape, supported on a central 

 stem with the hymenium on the under surface. Finally, in Cratcr- 

 ellus the fungus grows erect and is narrowly funnel-shaped with a 

 wavy, turned-over edge or margin. The hymenium covers the 

 outside of the funnel and shows slightly raised, irregular ribs, 

 which shadow in the gradual evolution of true gills, as occurring 

 in the genus Cantharellns, placed amongst the true gill-bearing 

 species, and to the family Hydnaceae through the genus 

 Phlebia. 



