Studies and Illustrations of Mushhooms: I. 



29 



this rule is followed other plants shoukl be preserved whole. In 

 order to have a record of the characters, however, careful notes on all 

 the characters should be taken while the plants are fresh, since so 

 many of the important ones are evanescent and disappear in drying. 

 The notes can be supplemented by pencil sketches, or even by photo- 

 graphs, if the collector so desires. A spore-print should also be pre- 

 served for a record of the color of the spores, since one cannot use 

 the color of the gills in all cases to determine that of the spores, and a 

 few spores under the microscope do not in many cases give the tint 

 which a mass of spores show, and which is very important to know. 



1 1 1 . — Lcpiota naacina. 



Some liquid fixative like gum arabic should be spread on the portion 

 of the white paper covered by the pileus previous to taking the spore- 

 print, so that the spores will adhere well to the paper ; or they may 

 be later fixed by using material like Rouget's fixative with an atomizer, 

 though with this latter treatment the figure of the print is apt to be 

 disturbed somewhat. 



In the preparation of mushrooms for the table, information may be 

 obtained from other sources if it is not already at hand, since we can- 



