HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



195 



deliquescent that in an hour or two they would dis- 

 solve into a watery mass, soak through all the 

 paper, and leave a mere dirty stain between the 

 sheets where the plant was originally placed. As a 

 contrast, some of the Polyporei (as the young state 

 of Folyporus igniarius) are so hard that nothing 

 but a steam-hammer would have any chance of 

 flatteningjthem. There is considerable difficulty in 

 ridding the plants from the larvaj with which they 

 are often infested. A few drops of the oil of tur- 

 pentine will, however, generally drive them from 

 Agarics and other fleshy fungi ; and, in regard to 

 the woody Polyporei, a good plan is to place the 

 plants in an oven, or on a hob for a short time, 

 where the heat is not too powerful to destroy the 

 plants, but still sufficiently potent to drive the 

 larvae from their holes. If this is not done, the col- 

 lector's experience will probably be the same as 

 mine has more than once been ; viz., on opening a 

 package (which should contain some choice dried 

 fungus), to find only a stain, a few skins of dead 

 maggots, and a little dirt— in fact, some of the 

 species in my herbarium, though mostly poisoned 

 with corrosive sublimate, get entirely devoured 

 by rapacious and poison-proof larvae, mites, and 

 minute beetles. 



In addition, however, to the mere drying, certain 

 notes and particulars are required, without which 

 the best dried specimens are worthless ; and, again, 

 for the larger fungi to be of real service, the spores 

 of each species must be separately preserved. As 

 regards the drying of the fleshy fungi themselves, 

 the process to observe is as follows :— Lay all ordi- 

 nary Agarics out separately in a dry place, or in a 

 current of dry air from six to twelve, or even twenty- 

 four hours, according to the species, so that they 

 may part with their superfluous moisture, and thus 

 facilitate drying. In the case of species with 

 glutinous pilei, it will be found that the gluten will 

 more or less set, if carefully attended to, in a dry, 

 warm place. If the larger fleshy fungi are inadver- 

 tently placed under a propagating-glass, or left on 

 a lawn or grassy place, or kept in damp air from 

 over-night till next morning, the chances are that 

 they will never properly dry at all. When the 

 superfluous moisture has evaporated they may be 

 put gently between drying-papers, but the weight 

 put upon them must at first be of the slightest 

 kind ; ordinary books, more or less light, will be 

 found quite sufficient ; and few, or perhaps no other 

 plants, require such frequent changing as Agarics. 

 An hour, or often less, suffices for the first pressure, 

 when care must be taken to supply them with fresh 

 and perfectly dry paper, or they will immediately 

 mould. It is a good plan, when the plants are half 

 dry, to take them out of the papers and put them in 

 dry air, or in a sunny place for a short time (the 

 length of time being determined by experience and 

 the nature of the species), to part with more of 



their moisture : so, with constant attention and 

 frequent olianging of the papers, very presentable 

 specimens may at last be obtained. These dried 

 fungi will now be found very useful for showing the 

 more superficial characters of the plants ; but with, 

 out sections, spores, and proper notes, they will be 

 next to useless. In Agarics it is of the first import- 

 ance to show the nature of the attachment of the 

 gills to the stem : and should the stem be furnished 

 with a volva or annulus, this must be preserved 

 with the greatest care — young specimens, too, in 

 different stages of growth, are often of great value . 



Fig. 121. Specimens showing the ffills, rings, and stages 

 of growth. 



If possible, it is well to have a series of dried speci- 

 mens of each species, one as in fig. 121 : A will 

 display the nature of the tubes in Boletus and the 

 gills [in the Agaricini, whether they are thick or 

 thin, crowded together or distant from each other, 

 plain or serrated, free or adnexed ; another, as at 

 B, to show the pileus, whether smooth or floccose, 

 plain, warted, or zoned, and the nature of the 

 margin, whether striate, bullate, or plain ; a third, 

 as at C, to show the attachment of pileus to stem 

 in infancy ; and, fourthly, a section or thin slice re- 

 moved from the exact middle of the young plant from 

 top to bottom, as at D : this will show the nature 

 of the veil (if present), and whether universal or not ; 

 and if absent, whether the margin is at first straight, 

 incurved, or involute.^ A similar section through the 

 mature plant is also required, E and F (fig. 122) : 

 this will give the attachment of gills to stem (a 

 character of great importance), and the nature of 

 the stem itself, whether solid, stuffed, or hollow. 

 Great care and experience is required to cut a thin 



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