112 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



ing on bark the patches are sometimes interrupted and irregular, in 

 which case the margin is broader than usual and well defined. 



Notes. The type collection contains four small slabs of material 

 mounted on a herbarium sheet and as much more preserved in a 

 herbarium packet. It represents very well the species as the writer 

 has come to know it in the eastern United States (plate 19, figure 

 1). Two other sheets of specimens are contained in the same 

 folder and there is also one small box of specimens. In another 

 folder are the original collections representing varieties recognized 

 by Peck. All but one are from the wood of coniferous trees, 

 either spruce or pine. Apparently these are all the labeled collec- 

 tions in Peck's herbarium, though it is such a common species that 

 a search through the undetermined material would probably yield 

 as many more collections. Recent material collected in abundance 

 by Weir in the northwest and referred to this species shows a con- 

 siderable range of variation not exhibited by eastern collections. 

 These western forms wall be discussed separately later, as some 

 might not agree with Doctor Weir and the writer as to their 

 identity. 



The largest specimens of the type collection are 10 cm long 

 and about 7 cm broad. Other eastern collections sometimes show 

 a much greater expanse of growth. The color of the hymenial 

 surface is pinkish buff to avellaneous in herbarium specimens but 

 fresh specimens are often white or whitish, becoming darker when 

 bruised. Peck states that it is separable from the matrix, but this 

 is true only when growing on a rather smooth surface. Such 

 specimens when separated have a peculiar appearance to the con- 

 tact surface, which seems more or less characteristic of such forms. 

 When so separated and dried, specimens curl badly and become 

 rather hard and rigid. But when growing on an uneven surface 

 such as the bark of a tree, it is impossible to separate the fungus 

 in entirety from the substratum. 



Younger specimens have a conspicuous, sterile, tomentose margin 

 sometimes 5 to 6 mm broad. This becomes narrower as specimens 

 mature and in rare cases entirely disappears. Usually it persists 

 to some extent and where the entire expanse of growth is present 

 in specimens it is easily seen. This border is fairly even, not at all 

 fimbriate, and is somewhat lighter in color than the hymenial sur- 

 face. The thickness of the specimens of an eastern origin varies 

 considerably, being from one-half of a millimeter to 6 mm. Based 

 on the thinnest nf such forms. Peck described the varietv tenuis 



