16 ARKIV FOR BOTANIK. BAND ll. w:o 3. 
Gothenburg 1885 referred to Pol. chioneus by ROBERT FRIES)! 
and this collection differs from my plant not only by the gla- 
brous surface of the pileus but also by having the hyphae sub- 
stantially parallel and simple so that the pileus is fissile in radial 
direction. Authentic specimens of Bjerkandera melina Karst. 
seem to agree with this collection from Gothenburg. 
P. laevigatus. 
Though this species is common at Stockholm where I have 
collected and studied it for more than twenty years, and though 
I have now compared it repeatedly with the resupinate speci- 
mens of Pol. igniarius from Lappland, and though some of 
them are tolerably alike, I am still in doubt as to whether their 
identity should be admitted or not. The difficulty is that, if 
we admit the identity, the consequence seems to be that P. 
laevigatus is only a form or variety of P. igniarius, and this can 
scarcely be conceded, as typical P. laevigatus appears quite dis- 
tinct from typical P. igniarius. 
In Pol. laevigatus, which in its typical form is a thin, totally 
resupinate plant the pores are small (5—7 or 4—8 per mm.) 
with thin walls, while in Pol. igniarius the pores are a little lar- 
ger (4—5 or 3—6 per mm.) with thicker walls. The spores of 
Pol. laevigatus are also small (3—5 t. diam. or 4—5 x3—4 y) 
while in Pol. igniarius the spores are larger (5—7 !/, x4—7. ), 
but intermediate sizes are also noted. The hymenial spines 
are about the same in both species. 
! Not having done so publicly before, I beg to express here the deep 
veneration and gratitude I feel to my dear late mycological teacher and friend, 
Doctor ROBERT FRIES, whose death (June 18th 1908, aged 68) was a great 
loss not only to his many devoted friends but also to the mycological science. 
Free, open, hearty and merry as he was, he could but gain the hearts of every- 
one who made his acquaintance. For my part, I am indebted to him not only 
for his invaluable encouragement and unselfish aid »in mycologicis» but also 
for other valuable assistance and for faithful friendship until his departure. 
Being a very talented son of the celebrated Elias Fries, and in possession of 
his direct tradition, nobody would have been more adapted than he to prose- 
cute, and complete, and adjust his great Fathers work. The excessive number 
of clients who naturally gathered around this amiable man when he began 
his practice as a physician unfortunately took, however, all, or nearly all, 
his time so that only some few spare hours now and then could be used for my- 
cological research (resulting however in a Synopsis Hymenomycetum regionis 
Gothoburgensis and other publications); and when he gave up the practice, 
his health and strength were already broken. Nevertheless he then took up 
the loved study of the Hymenomycetes, and published some of the results 
before he was so unexpectedly taken away by an acute illness. I bring him 
here my sincere thanks. He was a gentleman in the very best sense of the 
word. 
