FSE UDO- SCLEROTIA OE LENTINUS SIMILIS, &C. 15 
elements of the mycelium to various stains are identical with 
those previously described for these two in the case of the 
former example. The conclusion would appear to be justified, 
that these amorphous masses are the remains of the coralloid 
hyphæ which have been exhausted of their reserve food by 
the growth of the pilei. This second example is an exhausted 
pseudo-sclerotium. It would also appear probable that the 
coralloid hyphæ are produced by the transformation of 
the thick-walled normal hyphæ, and that the conidia-like 
bodies are a first stage in the formation of the short side 
branches. 
The pseudo-sclerotium of Lentinus infundibuliformis bears a 
much closer resemblance than that of L. similis to Pachyma 
cocos. Its coralloid ” hyphæ are more highly and more 
abundantly developed, and form with the remains of the wood 
a so] id mass ; whereas in the case of L. similis, the hyphæ, 
in general, lie free in the lumina of the wood elements. But 
in neither case has it been possible to demonstrate that the 
thickened hyphæ dissolve in caustic potash. 
General. 
The existence of sclerotia in the genus Lentinus has ]ong 
been known. One of the sections into which Fries divided 
the genus Lentinus, Scleroma, contained those species which 
arose from a sclerotium or from a mass of mycelium in the 
soil. F. S. Earle (2) narrows Fries’ Scleroma by including 
only those species which have a true sclerotium, and limits 
the genus Lentinus to these, with the type specimen Lentinus 
tuber -regium. 
There seems to be considerable doubt as to the identity of 
Lentinus tub er -regium. It was originally described and figured 
by Bumphius (10) from the Moluccas. Rumphius associated 
it with the sclerotium Pachyma tuber-regium, but Fries states 
that its mycelium merely binds the soil together, and is clearly 
different from the Pachyma. In “ Epicrisis Systematis 
Mycologici ” (1836-38) Fries stated that he had not seen it, 
but in ‘‘ Novæ Symbolæ Mycologie æ ” he wrote that it 
occurred ‘‘ Ad terram in insulis Archipelagi indici, sat 
frequens.^’ 
