264 31. C. COOKE OS BLACK MOUL - -. 



such case? each twig niust he wrapped by itself in a piece of paper 

 and consigned to tl. - alma. Sometimes the patches are dense, 

 and so black that the naked ere at once detects them ; in others, 

 the threads are so scattered that a lens will hare to be used. When 

 a delicate specimen, with erect, black threads, is found to wl 

 5S a "ainlv prove fatal, it is always desirable to be | r - 



1 with a small box or two in which to place them. In default 

 of this, a pin thru-" through the twig, and this fast ::ed into the 

 hat-crown, as an entom log st would impale a butterfly, will be found 



. od plan for carrying home the specimen uninjured. 



Such delicate black moulds are to be found on the dead stems of 

 i - - tnd -"_er her" e plants, on dead clematis, honey- 



suckl . :id ivy. and. if carried home carefully, may be transported 

 many miles, with the - - still clustered at the a; 3 :' the 

 threads : but to ensure this they must be treated as a delicate 

 insect would be treated, and kept from contact with other substances, 

 and not violently shaken. In a wood, where the brush is cut down 

 every few years, little chips and twigs will be found on the ground, 



grass and leaves on which black moulds are 

 flourishing. The old stumps - . _ ill have little twigs and chips 

 entangled about the base, which the wind has been powerless to 

 drift about, and 1 - . are to be examined : but. after all, 



commend me to the thick old hedge. A friend of mine had an iron 

 fork or rake, with two bent prongs, constructed to be carried in the 

 pocket, and used i draw out the rubbish amongst thorns and 

 brambles in a dense hedge, and this fork has brought out many good 

 things. It is just such a spot on which I found Cladotnchum 

 vn j. WL.-rrver there are old rails or palings, the more 



dilapidated the better, in a damp sheltered situation, large black 

 patches of mould are almost eerta i I • found, and even a piece of 

 old sacking. I ft * rot in a ditch, - -• 1 without an 



inspection. Above all things, a good wood-yard is a perfect para- 



- : 1 a mye legist. A good practical mycologist of my 

 acquaintance once found in a single excursion in a wood-yard the 

 unprecedented number of upwards of seventy sj - : Fungi, but 

 such success rarely falls to the lot of any one individual. The 

 rubbish corner in a large garden, where all sweepings, cuttings, 

 trimr^ _-. .' ge staJke -ins, and asparagus stems 



are cast to rot - hunting ground, and even a stack of 



faggot wood is not to be despised, when it can be found. It is 



