CBYPTOGAMIA FUNG I. 157 



black scurfiness ; pileus convex, smooth, yellowish-brown ; tubes 

 reddish-white, long, with small angular orifices ; flesh white 

 GREV. Fl. Edin. 405. Sow. Fung. t. 17-5, indifferent, B. auran- 

 tiacusy Sow. Fung. t. 110, better. WITH. iv. 346. HOOK. Scot. 

 ii. 26. 



Hob. Woods and plantations, frequent. 



B. luridus is reported to be poisonous, and its aspect favours 

 the report ; nor, indeed, do any of our species tempt us by 

 their appearance to try them as food. B. sealer -, however, 

 is used extensively in various countries ; and Mr SOWER- 

 BY was told that it was a favourite food among the Rus- 

 sians and Poles, who have many ways of cooking and 

 pickling it. 



89. POLYPORUS. 



OBS Long confounded with the preceding genus, yet remark- 

 ably distinct and well characterised. In Polyporus the hymenium, 

 or porous surface, is formed of the same substance as the rest of 

 the pileus, and the pores are divided by a simple dissepiment from 

 each other, so that they are strictly perforations. In Boletus, on 

 the contrary, the hymenium is canable of being separated entire 

 from the pileus, and is moreover composed of perfect tubes, at- 

 tached to each other, but capable of individual separation. The 

 Polypori are mostly long-lived ; the Boleti decay rapidly. The 

 first are mostly sessile and dimidiate, and of a coriaceous sub- 

 stance ; the second are always furnished with a central stalk, and 

 -are soft and juicy. GREVILLE. 



* With a more or less distinct stalk. 



1. P. varius, pileus rigid, glabrous, smooth ; pores small, round- 

 ish, pale ; stipes short, smooth, pale, becoming suddenly black at 

 the base GREV. Fl. Edin. 399. Crypt. Fl. t. 202. Boletus late- 

 yalis, HOOK. Scot. ii. 27. B. nummularius, WITH. iv. 350. Sow. 

 Fung. t. 89. 



Hob. On the decaying stump of a willow in Allerton-mill 

 dean. 



The two smallest figures in SOWERBY'S plate precisely re- 

 semble our specimens ; but as the plant is remarkably va- 



4 



