94 



Mycologia 



tissue In fact, the question may be raised whether the speci- 

 men is actually of organic origin. The occasional striking 

 similarity of purely inorganic concretions to living organisms, 

 both animal and vegetable, is well known; but in this instance 

 the resemblance to a hymenomycetous fungus appears to be too 

 perfect to be regarded as an accidental simulation. 



It is apparently referable to the Polyporaceae, as indicated 

 by the character of the under surface of the pileus, and may be 

 compared with Polyporus Polyporus (Retz.) Murrill, so far as 

 its nearest living relationship is concerned ; but its antiquity should 

 preclude a reference to the living genus Polyporus, and it is 

 clearly different from any of the fossil forms described under 

 that genus or under the fossil genus Polyporites, all of which 

 are from the Tertiary or more recent geological horizons, except 

 Polyporites Bowmanni Lindley and Hutton,* from the Carbonif- 

 erous of England, which is generally considered by paleontol- 

 ogists to be a fish scale and not a fungus. In fact, the only 

 fossil forms with which our specimen may be even remotely 

 compared are Hydnum argillae Ludwig,t and Agaricites Ward- 

 ianus Meschinelli,! both of them from Tertiary horizons. 



The generic name is designed to indicate its probable botanical 

 affinities and the specific name its geologic age. 



New York Botanical Garden. 



* Foss. Fl. Great Britain i : 183, pi. 65, f. Bi and B2. 1831-33. 



t " Fossile Pflanzen aus der Altesten Abtheilung der Rheinisch-Wetterauer 

 Teritar-Formation." Palaeontog. 8: 57, pi. 8, f. i, la-ic. 1859. 



% " Di un Probabile Agaricino Miocenico." Atti Soc. Veneto-Trentina Sci. 

 Nat. 12^: 312, pi. 8. 1891. 



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