^^^Q^hlyporet 



HE previous examples of mushrooms 

 - ^» have all been included in the order 

 ■'"■^ ^ of the Agarics, or " gill - bearing " 

 fungi, the under spore-bearing sur- 

 •j face of the cap having been disposed 

 in the form of laminae or gills. We 

 will now pass to the consideration of a class of 

 mushrooms certain of which /enjoy a wider reputa- 

 tion as " toadstools " than any other species, a- new 

 botanical order of fungi — the Polyporei — in which 

 the gills are replaced by pores or tubes — polyporus 

 (many pores). Conspicuous among the Polyporei 

 are those great shelf -like woody growths so fre- 

 quently to be seen on the trunks of trees) and popu- 

 larly known as "punk," "tinder," and " touch - wood," 

 and many of which increase in size year by year 

 by accession of growth at the rim.||j^ few of these 

 lateral - stemmed species are edible during their 

 young state, one or two of which are included in 

 my subsequent pagesJl But the most notable group 

 from the standpoint of esculence is the typical genus 

 Boletus, containing a large number of species, and 

 of which Plate 20 presents a conspicuous example. 

 Especial attention should here be called to the nota- 



