G8 



BECREATIVE SCIENCE. 



tain if tliey are sufficiently dry hold a piece 

 of clean diy glass over a perforated box at a 

 tolerably high, temperature. If moisture is~ 

 still remaining it will soon be indicated by a 

 foggy appearance on the glass. With respect 

 to flattening, as fungi are generally of a 

 tough leathery texture, they may be flattened 

 with care in an ordinary press, and I believe 

 that their form, like that of most cryptogam! c 

 plants, may be restored by boiling water. 

 Specimens to be collected for the herbarium 

 should not have the roots cut off". 



FUNGI ON THE STEMS OF TEEES. 



The parasitic and epiphytal fungi demand 

 but few words. They are mostly on leaves 

 of plants, and will simply require to be col- 

 lected between the leaves of a folio book, and 

 pressed by means of a string tightly bound 

 round it. Many on the bark of trees, stems of 

 plants, decayed wood, etc., may simply be 

 shaved off by a chisel or sharp stiff knife, and 

 driedin a warm room, or in the sun, and pressed 

 if inclined to shrivel. Those found in or on the 

 surface of liquids will require a very different 

 treatment ; when first removed from the 

 liquid they must be placed, on a pad of blot- 

 ting-paper, six or eight sheets thick, and laid 

 on a sloping board to drain, and during inter- 

 vals as much must be absorbed as possible by 

 gently pressing blotting-paper on the surface. 

 No attempt should be made to press them 

 tiU as much moisture as possible is absorbed 

 by exposure to the air, and take especial care 

 to keep them in a moderately cool tempera- 

 ture till the liquid appears absorbed ; they 

 should then, if possible, be placed on the 

 paper intended for mounting, and paper and 

 specimens together put between folded sheets 

 of blotting-paper, and pressed very tenderly, 

 and with care not to rub off the bloom. If 

 very delicate, or of an irregular surface, they 

 ought not to be pressed, but dried by the air, 

 and protected on the herbarium paper by a 

 light wooden frame surrounding them. Those 

 that are found on bread, cheese, potatoes, 



and other decomposing; provisions, should be 

 dried by exposure to the air, and mounted for 

 the herbarium in white card-board boxes with 

 glass lids ; many of the extremely delicate 

 must at once be mounted between glass for 

 the microscope, being the only way to pre- 

 serve them. Many of the agarics and other 

 fungi may have their delicate colours pre- 

 served by absorbing any moisture on their 

 surface with a piece of blotting-paper, and 

 varnishing them with a hard transparent var- 

 nish immediately they are removed from the 

 ground, or wherever they grow, and sus- 

 pended with strings in the air. Where the 

 whole plant is coloured, and several are col- 

 lected, different parts of each should be var- 

 nished, as the moisture cannot evaporate 

 through the varnish. 



PEESEEVING THEM WHEN MOtTNTED. 



Pungi are so delightful a relish to insects, 

 that they will soon be devoured if not 

 poisoned. Camphor so soon evaporates as to 

 became a most expensive, troublesome, and, 

 some say, most inefficient remedy, and its 

 perfume becomes deleterious where in con- 

 stant use, producing headache, etc., when 

 confined in a room without ventilation. 

 Turpentine and other essential oils become 

 most obnoxious in glass cabinets, their re- 

 sinous and greasy consistency encouraging 

 the accumulation of dust on the specimens, 

 the glass becomes dull and greasy, and, 

 even if suspended in phials, are liable to 

 be upset, and cause sad ^havoc in a collec- 

 tion neatly mounted. A solution formed of 

 spirits of wine, corrosive sublimate, and a 

 very small proportion of camphor, is most 

 generally efficacious ; but the use of this wiU 

 vary almost as much as the plants vary them- 

 selves. In the leaf fungi the camphor must 

 be omitted, as it forms a crystalline deposit. 

 For many of the agarics water must be 

 added, or the mixture will destroy the colour. 

 With the more delicate a coat of varnish 

 answers admirably, as it at the same time fixes 



