POLYPOREI 213 



with paler yellowish tints. Substance very solid, 

 changing to blue on fracture or bruise. Tube sur- 

 face deep dull crimson or maroon, this 

 The crimson color not extending the full length of 

 Boletus the pores, which are yellow a short dis- 

 tance above their mouths. The stem 

 is quite stout and tall for the size of the cap as 

 compared with other Boleti. It is mottled in yellow 

 and bright red or crimson, and conspicuously meshed 

 with a net-work of firm ridges. The spores are yel- 

 lowish brown. A conspicuous and easily identified 

 species. 



THE VEGETABLE BEEFSTEAK 

 Fistulina hepatica 



Our next member of the Polyporus order, or tube- 

 bearing fungi, is a unique member of the fun- 

 gus tribe, and cannot be mistaken for any other 

 species. An example of this species is shown in 

 Plate 25, the beefsteak mushroom — Fistulina he- 

 patica. The specimen from which my drawing was 

 made was found growing at the foot of a chestnut- 

 tree, and was about nine inches across 

 Botanical by about two in greatest thickness. Its 



characters upper surface was dark meaty red or 

 liver colored, somewhat wet, or viscid 

 and clammy, and its taste slightly acid. The under 

 tube surface was yellowish white, and, as the section 

 will show, was proportionately thin — the pores being 

 about one-eighth of an inch in length. The solid 

 red substance much resembled meat, and in sections 

 was streaked with darker lines of red, as indicated in 

 plate, somewhat suggesting a section of beet-root. 



