USES. 103 



several species are supposed to possess great virtue, notably the 

 Torrubia sinensis, Tul.,* which is developed on dead caterpillars ; 

 as it is, however, recommended to administer it as a stuffing to 

 roast duck, we may be sceptical as to its own sanitary qualities. 

 Geaster hygrometricus, Fr., we have also detected amongst 

 Chinese drugs, as also a species of Polysaccum, and the small 

 hard Mylitta lapidescens, Horn. In India, a large but imper- 

 fect fungus, named provisionally Sclerotium stipitatum, Curr., 

 found in nests of the white ant, is supposed to possess great 

 medicinal virtues.f A species of Polyporus (P. anthelminticus, 

 B.), which grows at the root of old bamboos, is employed in 

 Burmah as an anthelmintic.J In former times the Jew's ear 

 (Hirneola auricula Judo?, Fr.) was supposed to possess great 

 virtues, which are now discredited. Yeast is still included 

 amongst pharmaceutical substances, but could doubtless be very 

 well dispensed with. Truffles are no longer regarded as aphro- 

 disiacs. 



For other uses, we can only allude to amadou, or German 

 tinder, which is prepared in Northern Europe from Polyporus 

 fomentarius, Fr., cut in slices, dried, and beaten until it is soft. 

 This substance, besides being used as tinder, is made into warm 

 caps, chest protectors, and other articles. This same, or an 

 allied species of Polyporus, probably P. igniarius, Fr., is dried 

 and pounded as an ingredient in snuff by the Ostyacks on 

 the Obi. In Bohemia some of the large Polyporei, such as 

 P. igniarius and P. fomentarius, have the pores and part of the 

 inner substance removed, and then the pileus is fastened in an 

 inverted position to the wall, by the part where originally it 

 adhered to the wood. The cavity is then filled with mould, 

 and the fungus is used, with good effect, instead of flower-pots, 

 for the cultivation of such creeping plants as require but little 

 moisture. 



The barren mycelioid condition of Penicilliain crusfaceum, 



* Lindley, "Vegetable Kingdom," fig. xxiv. 

 f Currey, P., in "Linn. Trans." vol. xxiii. p. 93. 

 J "Pharmacopeia of India," p. 258. 

 "Gard. Chron." (1862), p. 21.' 



