43 



was noted for a particular tree during tho past sunimor. This troo, a 

 large White Spruce, had ])een ])lown down some years when tirst seen. 

 The standing stump was 1'2 feet (3f meters) in height, and on its south 

 side there developed in August of 1897 a large number of the sporo- 

 phores. These dried and broke away during the following winter. 

 During the summer of 1898 no sporophores appeared on either the 

 standing stump or the fallen log. and it was not until August, 1899, 

 that a new lot of the brackets appeared, and then in the greatest num- 

 ber. Three large patches broke out on the north and northAvest side 

 of the trunk, and the lower side of the fallen log was literal I3' covered 

 with the yellow brackets. No mention of this periodical occurrence 

 of the fruiting portion has been found, and it will be of considerable 

 interest to see what will take place this 5^ear. Several other large 

 Spruces in the immediate neighborhood were caused to decay by this 

 fungus, but no sporophores have so far developed on their trunks. 



The shape of the pileus varies materially with the position which it 

 happens to occupy. When on upright trunks several sessile sporo- 

 phores usually occur one above the other, the upper surfaces of the 

 lower ones touching and uniting here and there with the lower surfaces 

 of those above. The individual parts are comparatively thin plates, 

 which have radiating lines and depressions extending outward to the 

 margin. The body of each is soft and ilesh}^ when 3^oung and full of 

 a clear yellowish liquid. The upper surface when young is xevy 

 moist, somewhat hairy, and when bruised turns brown. As the plant 

 grows older it becomes very much harder, and when completeh^ formed 

 is quite hard and ])rittle. Masses of the young plants have a peculiar 

 fungous odor, which becomes ver}' intense as the parts grow older. 

 The lower surface of the shelf is smooth and even. The pores are 

 formed A^ery earh^ in its development, and almost as soon as the}' are 

 completed the formation and discharge of spores begin. The sporo- 

 phores are very short-lived. They begin to appear on the trunk as 

 small rounded knobs, formed by thick-walled hypha?, which come out 

 from l)etAveen the l)ark scales. Their growth isver}' rapid, even more 

 so than that noted for Polyporics schweinitzii. The A'arious small 

 knobs soon flatten into a number of plates, consisting of strands of 

 hypha?, some of which grow out horizontally, increasing the width of 

 the pileus, Avhile others grow downward to form the pores. When 

 the sporophores develop on the under side of a log they grow out in 

 all directions from a central point, and sometimes forms with a distinct 

 stipe are met with. 



Numerous drops of the clear liquid mentioned before were found 

 hangino' from the under surface of the shelves on some davs.^ The 

 appearance of the drops does not seem to stand in any relation to the 

 amount of moisture in the air, for they were found alike on ver}^ dr}^ 



^ Fries notes this fact — Epicrisis, etc. 450. 



