=Polyporus fomentarius= (L.) Fr. [_Fomes fomentarius_ (L.) Fr.,] is hoof-shaped, smoky in color, or gray, and of various shades of dull brown. It is strongly zoned and sulcate, marking off each year's growth. The margin is thick and blunt, and the tube surface concave, the tubes having quite large mouths so that they can be readily seen, the color when mature being reddish brown. Sections of the plant show that the tubes are very long, the different years' growth not being marked off so distinctly as in _P. applanatus_ and _leucophæus_. The plant grows on birch, beech, maple, etc. The inner portion was once used as tinder. =Polyporus pinicola= (Swartz.) Fr. [_Fomes pinicola_ (Swartz.) Fr.] occurs on dead pine, spruce, balsam, hemlock spruce, and other conifers. The cap is about the width of the _F. applanatus_, but it is stouter, and does not have the same hard crust. The young growth at the margin, which is very thick, is whitish yellow, while the old zones are reddish. The tubes are yellowish, and sections show that they are in strata corresponding to the years' growth. =Polyporus igniarius= (L.) Fr. [_Fomes igniarius_ (L.) Fr.] is a black species, more or less triangular, or sometimes hoof-shaped. The yearly zones are smaller, become much cracked, and the tubes are dark brown. One of these plants which I found on a birch tree in the Adirondacks was over 80 years old. The genus _Merulius_ has a fruiting surface of irregular folds or wrinkles, forming shallow, irregular pits instead of a deeply honey-combed surface. =Merulius lacrymans= (Jacq.) Fr., the "weeping" merulius, or "house fungus," often occurs in damp cellars, buildings, conduit pipes, etc. It is very destructive to buildings in certain parts of Europe (see Figs. 189, 190). =Merulius tremellosus= Schrad., is very common in woods during autumn. It is of a gelatinous consistency, and spread on the under surface of limbs or forms irregular shelves from the side (see Figs. 191, 192). [Illustration: PLATE 73.--Merulius lacrymans. FIGURE 189.--Upper plant in conduit pipe leading from wash room, Gymnasium C. U., Autumn, 1899. FIGURE 190.--Lower plant from under surface decaying hemlock spruce log in woods near Freeville, N. Y., October, 1899. Margin of plants white, fruiting surface a network of irregular folds, golden brown, or brown. Copyright.] [Illustration: PLATE 74.--Merulius tremellosus. FIGURE 191.--Natural size.] [Illustration: FIGURE 192.--Enlarged to show character of fruiting surface. Fruiting surface yellowish; margin and upper surface in shelving forms, white, hairy. Copyright.] [Illustration: PLATE 75, FIGURE 193.--Phlebia merismoides. On rotting log, woods near Ithaca, November 23, 1898 (No. 2634 C. U. herbarium). Various shades of orange, yellow or yellow brown when old. Copyright.]