NOTES AND BRIEF ARTICLES 
Excellent specimens of Polyporus amorpliiis collected at State 
College, Pa., by C. R. Orton were sent to the Garden herbarium 
in a fresh condition by Mr. L. O. Overholts on September 22. 
They were found growing on dead pine wood and running over 
pine needles on the ground. The species has no doubt been con- 
fused with P. dichrons in this country. 
A specimen of the rare Panaeolus epimyces on Coprinus coma- 
tus was sent in from Pittsford, New York, on October 25, 1915, 
by Mr. Fred S. Boughton, and a colored drawing of the plant was 
obtained. The host was turbinate in general outline and de- 
pressed about the stipe of the Panaeolus, resembling the enlarged 
base of an Amanita with a conspicuous, thickened volva. Atten- 
tion is called to Mr. E. T. Harper’s article in Mycologia 5 : 167. 
1913, and to the papers he cites on this subject. 
Auricularia Auricula (L.) Underw., commonly known as the 
Jew’s ear fungus, has been studied by M. J. Le Goc in the vicinity 
of Cambridge, England, where it is common on elder and less 
common on elm. Pure cultures of the fungus grow readily on 
elder, lime, and elm wood, producing rudimentary fructifications. 
Penetration, delignification, and almost complete consumption of 
the wood quickly follow natural infection with the fungus. In- 
oculations on healthy living twigs of elder were often successful, 
the hyphae penetrating slowly at first, but finally killing the twigs. 
A collection of Thelephoraceae made in Jamaica in 1908 and 
1909 by W. A. Murrill and Edna L. Murrill has recently been 
determined by Dr. E. A. Burt, who is publishing a series of arti- 
cles on this family in the Annals of the Missouri Botanical Gar- 
den. Of the 45 species recognized, representing 12 genera, 8 of 
them are new and some of the more difficult material in the' col- 
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