CRYPTOGAMIA FUNGI. 159 



The edge is always rounded and obtuse. The flesh is 

 fibrous, cutting with some difficulty, but tearing readily in 

 the direction of the fibres, of a rich yellow, becoming 

 quickly brown on exposure to the air. A watery fluid 

 oozes from it on pressure, and this liquid (which is proba- 

 bly rain-water tinged by the colouring matter of the fun- 

 gus) often stands in large drops on the surface. Steeped 

 in water, the fluid acquires the colour of white wine, 

 which is not affected by the addition of sulphate of iron, 

 but rendered lighter by the diluted sulphuric acid, and 

 considerably darkened by the carbonate of soda. 



4. P.fomentarius, dimidiate, hard; pileus subtriquetrous, obso- 

 letely banded, cinereous-brown ; pores at first whitish, glaucous, 

 afterwards subferruginous GREV. Fl. Edin. 400. Boletus fomen- 

 tarius, Sow. Fung. t. 133. HOOK. Scot. ii. 28. 



Ha b. On branches of trees, rare. 



This is a much rarer fungus in Berwickshire than the pre- 

 ceding, for I have once only met with it. My specimens 

 are on a decayed piece of ash, and were picked up in the 

 plantations about the Retreat. They are, when dried, of 

 a yellowish-brown colour, and the substance is spongy and 

 rather soft, by which character it is, perhaps, best distin- 

 guished from the igniarius. The Amadou, celebrated as a 

 styptic, and once much used in the practice of surgery, is 

 prepared from this species, by removing the epidermis and 

 porous parts, and beating the rest into a soft spongy state. 

 Banished from surgery, the preparation now renders good 

 service to the housewife and smoker, for all over the con- 

 tinent, and likewise in the Highlands of Scotland, it is 

 used instead of tinder ; and no German who smokes, stirs 

 without his amadou, flint and steel. 



5. P. medulla-panis* irregular, imbricate, above brown, uneven 

 and rough ; tubes straight or oblique, pure white, with small, an - 

 gular orifices GREV. Fl. Edin* 402. Boletus obliquus, PURT. 

 ^Mid. Fl. iii. 246. 



Hob. At the roots of trees in woods, and in hedge bottoms, 

 common. 



Forms hard, corky, irregular and thick masses, always grow- 

 ing from decayed wood, and in the progress of its growth 

 enveloping and fixing in its thickness, leaves, straw, and 

 similar bodies. The thickness is increased by a peculiar 



