68 M. C. COOKE ON MICROSCOPIC MOULDS. 



boxes, chip boxes will serve, with corked bottoms, or small insect 

 collecting boxes, and, as soon as a specimen is found, carefully 

 to cut away all extraneous portions of the leaf or stem of the 

 plant on which it is growing, thrust a pin through it, and 

 fasten it in the cork of the box as one would a butterfly or moth. 

 * If the specimen is a very delicate one the box must be carried 

 home in the hand, if the mould is to be secured in prime con- 

 dition. The greatest care must be taken in trimming up the 

 matrix of the mould to employ a sharp knife and cause as little 

 jar or vibration as possible to be communicated to the mould, or the 

 sj)ores will be dislodged. 



Supposing that the mould is safely conveyed home, the next 

 subject for consideration is how to examine or mount it. The true 

 moulds or Mucedines are the most delicate, and require the great- 

 est care both in collection and preservation ; if moderate success 

 be achieved with these all the rest is easy. On no account must 

 moulds be placed in fluid of any kind for examination, or all the 

 spores are instantly removed, and nothing is left but the bare flocci ; 

 this may be necessary for the examination of the threads them- 

 selves, but it is fatal to the mould. 



Cells of any kind, tin cells, glass cells, vulcanite cells, or any 

 other cells, fixed upon glass slips are the best for the purpose. A 

 small portion of the mould, carefully removed with a sharp pair of 

 scissors, taking care not to touch the mould, but to cut the leaf or 

 stem, and remove the fragment with its portion of mould attached, 

 and at once place it in the cell, fix it or not as taste may dictate, 

 and put on the cover, fastening it in position with a spring clip. 

 I should not myself fasten down the thin cover for twenty-four 

 hours, in order that what moisture there might be in the mould 

 or its matrix might find its way out. If closed at once the glass 

 is liable to become dull, and remain so for some time, on account of 

 the evaporation of the enclosed moisture. Such a slide will, if 

 neatly manipulated, prove a most attractive object for a low power, 

 say one or two inches, especially if well illuminated. 



To examine a mould satisfactorilv it must be mounted free from 

 compression, and it must be seen as an opaque object. Further, it 

 should be seen with the amplification of a quarter-inch objective 

 to make out the details. Here then is the great difficulty. To 

 examine an opaque object under plenty of light with a quarter- 

 inch, and such a quarter-inch of good penetration. Some will 



