52 NATURE STUDY. 
bright red pore surfaces and those whose flesh possesses the re¬ 
markable property of changing color when exposed to the air 
through fracture. Now it is beginning to be believed that the 
group contains no poisonous species though some are bitter and 
unfit for food. Captain Mcllvaine has said : “ All the boleti 
are harmless though some are too bitter to eat.” Boletus granu- 
latus is common hereabouts, is 
an undoubted esculent and is 
fairly representative of the bo¬ 
letus group whose species num¬ 
ber among the hundreds. In 
this species the cap is from two 
to four inches in diameter with 
a glutinous surface when moist. 
In color it is ordinarily grayish- 
yellow or tawny, though quite 
subject to variation. The tubes 
are at first very pale yellow and 
fig. io. become rusty with age, and thei r 
mouths are usually found to be dotted with minute gtanules 
produced by the drying of the juices of the plant (whence the 
name granulatus). The stem also shows minute granules. In 
length if* varies from two to three inches and in thickness from 
one-third to one-half inch. This fungus may be looked for 
from July to October in pine woods are groves. Boleti, if fresh 
and uninfested by insects, may be prepared for the table in the 
same manner with most other fungi, except that the slimy tube- 
stratum had best be removed and the caps peeled. 
In these papers which are now brought to a close, systematic 
treatment has obviously not been attempted. The species de¬ 
scribed have been selected on account of their common occur¬ 
rence, their easy identification, or their particular usefulness or 
harmfulness rather than through any rational connection among 
them, but it is hoped that by calling attention to well-marked and 
easily collected species the reader may be stimulated to appre¬ 
ciate the opportunities which the study affords and be led into 
other than superficial work along the line of Mycology. 
