WHITE MILDEWS OR BLIGHTS. 163 



as speedily as possible,, taking care not to touch, or 

 brush it against any other object so as to disturb 

 the arrangement of the delicate little threads upon 

 its surface. If a small portion^ say about an inch, 

 is cut from this leaf with a sharp pair of scissors, 

 and laid upon a slide, or pinned down upon a strip 

 of sheet cork, so as to keep it flat, and then sub- 

 mitted to examination under the microscope, with 

 an inch power, a beautiful forest of crystalline 

 vegetation will be observed. If the examiner on 

 this occasion should not possess a binocular micro- 

 scope we are sorry for him, because in that case he 

 will not see all that is to be seen under the greatest 

 advantages. If we ever truly enjoy looking through 

 such an instrument, it is on an occasion Hke this, 

 when a low power is all that is needed, and the 

 object is required to be seen in relief. It is scarcely 

 possible to convey an adequate idea of the beauty 

 of such a scene as the microscope reveals upon this 

 fragment of grass-leaf. Little bundles of dehcate 

 threads, clear and crystalline, are seated upon a 

 slender branching mycelium. These threads, some- 

 times erect, sometimes drooping, flexuous, or pro- 

 strate, are composed of numerous roundish or 

 spherical cells attached to each other in a monili- 

 form or bead-like manner (fig. 236). These easily 

 separate from each other. Let a portion of the 

 threads be removed from the leaf on the point of a 

 lancet and laid upon a glass slide, with a thin cover 

 over them. Submit this object to a quarter-inch 



H 2 



