Banker: Type Studies in the Hydnaceae 311 



hydniim rubiginosum Dre. 1823, — Dichroum Pers. Myc. Eur. 

 sect. 2 add^ Pag. 213." Below this appeared in a different hand 

 " pudorinum Fr." This plant differs considerably from the speci- 

 men in Persoon's herbarium, likewise received from Delastre, and 

 approaches more nearly S. ochraceum. It is possibly the speci- 

 men to which Fries refers in " Hymenomycetes Europeae " 612. 

 Fries himself regarded Hydnum dichroum Pers. as a synonym of 

 his H. pudorinum and it seems best that the names should be 

 regarded as synonyms, but the older name of Persoon has priority 

 and the species should be known as Steccherinum dichroum 

 (Pers.). 



Steccherinum Rhois (Schw.) Banker, Mem. Torrey 

 Club 12 : 126. 1906 



Hydnum Rhois Schw. Syn. Fung. Car. Sup. 77. 18 18. 

 Hydnum flabelliforme Berk. Lond. Jour. Bot. 4: 306. 1845. 



The type of H. Rhois Schw. in the Schweinitz herbarium at 

 Philadelphia has disappeared. In the Berkeley herbarium at 

 Kew, England, a specimen was found marked " Hydnum Rhois 

 L. V S. Herb. Schwein." and is presumably a part of the original 

 Schweinitz specimen. This particular specimen is somewhat 

 smaller than the type of Hydnum flabelliforme Berk, preserved 

 in the same herbarium and approaches somewhat closely to Stec- 

 cherinum dichroum (Pers.), but in most of its characters is essen- 

 tially the same as Hydnum flabelliforme Berk. Comparison with 

 extensive collections of our American forms convinces me that 

 H. Rhois cannot be successfully separated from H. flabelliforme. 



The entire series of forms included under these three species, 

 Steccherinum ochraceum (Pers.), wS'. dichroum (Pers.), and 5^. 

 Rhois (Schw.), constitute a closely continuous series in which 

 over refinement of species making might be able to segregate some 

 five or six more or less clearly defined forms. We believe, 

 however, that the three species enumerated is as close a segre- 

 gation as the group will bear and it may even be reasonably ques- 

 tioned whether these species are anything more than extreme 

 variations of a single fundamental type. It seems to be possible 

 to obtain an almost complete blending of the species by inter- 

 mediate forms, some of which perliaps are really represented by 



