POLYPOREI 221 



The specimen above alluded to would have weigh- 

 ed about two pounds, and this central mass was so 

 crowded as to afford scarcely a glimpse of the pink- 

 ish-orange pileus surface. Upon showing my speci- 

 men to a friend, I was informed that a certain log 

 by the roadside about two miles distant was covered 

 with this same kind of fungus, which 

 ^ ^th*^* seemed to be spreading all over the 



wilderness ground. Doubtless ten or twenty 



pounds of good nourishing food was 



thus going begging by the way-side, even in sight 



of a rural homestead, whose lord and master finds 



the butcher's bill a serious drain upon his resources. 



My plate shows a more open cluster of the fungus 

 in its earlier stages, the only time when it is fit for 

 food. In this condition it is tender, succulent, and 

 juicy. In a few days the lobed fringes or fan -like 

 divisions have lowered and spread out as widely as 

 their crowded condition will permit, assuming the 

 horizontal or even drooping position seen at C, and 

 at D in the plate, as viewed from above. The pileus 

 now being exposed, the fungus presents a deep 

 orange -red or salmon color to the beholder, its sul- 

 phurous -hued pore surface being turned beneath. 

 Its texture at this adult stage is tough, fibrous, and 

 almost woody, especially as it approaches the stem, 

 and no one would think of eating it. 



The young specimen, however, is quite delicious 

 and wholesome, and, considering that a single cluster 

 will afford a dinner for a large family, its importance 

 as a food product, especially to the farmer or peasant 

 who finds economy a necessity, is thus manifest. 



