TEXT-BOOK OF FUNGI 



is interesting to note that in the present family, -the most 

 highly evolved of the Basidiomycetes, there is represented 

 every phase in the evolution of the families preceding it. 

 In the structure of the sporophores we meet with a thin 



FIG. 113. Hexagonia apiaria, showing very large polygonal pores. 

 The genus Hexagonia is mostly confined to tropical and subtropical 

 regions. 



crust adnate throughout to the matrix in species of 

 Merulius. Sporophores attached laterally by a broad 

 base to the matrix, with the hymenium on the under side, 

 and resembling an inverted bracket or a horse's hoof, are 

 numerous in the genera Polyporus, Trametes, etc. A 

 more advanced phase of development is illustrated by 

 Polyporus squamosus, common in Britain and elsewhere, 

 growing from some injured portion of the trunk of a tree; 

 here we have a large, flat, fan-shaped or semicircular 

 sporophore with a short, almost lateral stem. Perfectly 



