DESCRIPTIONS OP SOME FAMILIAR MUSHROOMS. 133 



assumed a brownish tinge. The edges were 

 obtuse, the caps fleshy, then corky, smooth, 

 the upper ends not regular, obUqiie in the 

 form of an umbo or Httle knob, the peUicles 

 or outside layers thin and easily separated. 

 Pores short, small, unequal, at length separat- 

 ing. The shape of the fungus is peculiar, a 

 sort of semi-circular outline that may be called 

 dimidiate. The margins were involute. They 

 protruded from a split in the bark of a dead 

 birch tree which lay prostrate on the ground, 

 several feet in length, and it was literally cov- 

 ered with the fungi, some an inch wide and 

 snow white, and the largest 5 or 6 inches in 

 width, and of a brownish-gray tinge. These 

 specimens became as hard as wood after they 

 had been kept for some time. The thin skin 

 peeled off easily and disclosed the snowy flesh 

 beneath. 



POLYPORUS PERENNIS = perennial. 

 The Perennial Polyporus. 



Cap is cinnamon-colored, then of a date 

 brown, leathery, tough, funnel-shaped, becom- 

 ing smooth, zoned. Pores minute, angular, 

 acute, at first sprinkled with a white bloom, 

 then naked and torn. Stem slightly firm. 



