24 Massee.—A Monograph of 
the varieties the veil opens below by a well-defined circular 
or subelliptical aperture. In the variety Torreyi , no aperture 
has yet been seen, but one probably exists in fully and 
properly developed specimens 1 .’ In Polyporus betulinus , as 
pointed out by Peck, there is a barren margin extending be- 
yond the stratum of pores and incurved, but to a much less 
extent than in P. volvatus , and the same character is pre- 
sented by other species. From the above description it will 
be seen that De Bary’s views as to the affinities of Polyporus 
volvatus are untenable. The last paragraph dealing with 
De Bary’s attempts to prove the evolution of the Gastro- 
mycetes from the Polyporeae is as follows : ‘ It would be 
possible to assume another point of connection between the 
Hymenomycetes and the Gastromycetes, if we regard the 
mode of development of the compound sporophore from one 
side only. Then Amanita among the Hymenomycetes would 
approach nearest to the Gastromycetes, because the first 
development of the parts in one and the other is the result of 
differentiation in the interior of the primordial coil of hyphae. 
Brefeld, in connection with some former suggestions of my 
own of this kind, has recently given decisive weight to the 
above consideration. But then Amanita is closely connected 
in all other respects with the series of the Agaricineae ; the 
agreement between their propagative and especially their 
hymenial apparatus and that of the Gastromycetes is the very 
smallest possible. We might disregard this fact, and venture 
a jump across the intervening space, if no better means of 
connecting these groups could be found. But since we have 
such a mode before us, and at the same time there is no 
ground for assuming the existence of two points of union, the 
jump need not be made. The facts lead to the other conclu- 
sion, that the development of the compound sporophores by 
internal differentiation, called above the angiocarpous, makes 
its appearance at two widely separated points within the group 
of the Basidiomycetes, namely, in the series of the Agari- 
1 Peck, 1 . c. p. 102. 
