# An Account of a New Species of Fungus, by John Martyn, F. R. S. Prof. Bot. Cantab. Communicated in a Letter to the President

**Author(s):** John Martyn  
**Year:** 1744  
**Journal:** Philosophical Transactions (1683-1775)  
**Volume:** 43  
**Pages:** 4 pages  
**Identifier:** jstor-104459  
**JSTOR URL:** <https://www.jstor.org/stable/104459>  

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V. An Account of a new Species of Fungus,
by John Martyn, F. R. S. Prof. Bot. Cantab. communicated in a Letter to the President.

Read Jan. 24. In the latter Part of the Summer of the Year 1744, Mr. Ehret the Painter brought me a Fungus of a very extraordinary Shape and Size, which had been found growing on a Piece of the Trunk of an Elm, in a damp Cellar in the Hay-Market.

The whole Plant was about two Feet in Height; and, at first Sight, seemed not very unlike the Horns of some Deer, being variously branched, and covered with a thick Down. It was of a spongeous Substance, and of a dusky-red Colour inclining to Black. The Tips of the smaller Branches were of a Cream-Colour. The larger Branches, or rather the Tops of the whole Plant, were expanded in Form of a Funnel, smooth on the concave, and full of Pores on the convex Side. The inner and lower Part of the Funnel was of the same Colour with the Stalk; the rest of it was of a Cream-Colour.

I have not been able to find, that this Plant has been mentioned by any Author; and am persuaded, that it is a new Species; and, perhaps, the remarkable Branching of the Stalks may induce some to think it a new Genus. As the Funnel may be esteemed a Cap, and as this Cap is not lamellated, it will be a Boletus, according to the Method observed in the Third Edition of Ray's Synopsis. According to Micheli,
Micheli, it seems to belong to the Genus of *Polyporus*. This Method, which I have long used in the Distribution of this Class, is expressed in the following synoptical Table, which, I think, comprehends all the Species hitherto known.

**FUNGI sunt,**

lamellati,

\{ cauliferi; AMANITA.  
\{ sessiles; AGARICOIDES.

porosi,

\{ cauliferi; BOLETUS.  
\{ sessiles; BOLETOIDES.

cancellati, aut scrobiculis excavati;

\{ sex pila erumpentes; PHALLUS.  
\{ sex pila non erumpentes; MERULIUS.

echinati; ERINACEUS.

in pulverem abeuntes; LYCOPERDON.

solidi,

\{ cauliferi; CHANTERELLA.  
\{ sessiles,

\{ calyciformes; PEZICA.  
\{ non calyciformes,

\{ in longitudinem produci; DIGITELLUS.  
\{ horizontaliter prodeuntes; AGARICUS.

subterranei; TUBER.

According to this Method of mine, as well as that of the Editor of Ray's Synopsis, the Plant in Question will be a *Boletus*: And, as I do not think it necessary to constitute a new Genus, I have taken the Liberty to call it

*BOLETUS caule ramoso; summitatibus concavis expansis; ramis minoribus in acutum mucronem desinentibus.* Vide Tab. II. Fig. 1.