THE FLOEAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



213 



between drying paper, pnt on perfectly 

 hot, for twelve hours. 



Drying in Sand and Lime. — There is 

 another process, not generally known, by 

 which they may be preserved cither in 

 their natural form or flattened for the 

 herbarium. 



Take the -whitest sand, nine pounds, 

 powdered lime, one pound. Mix tho- 

 roughly and sift through a fine sieve ; let 

 the whole be well dried and kept in an 

 earthen vessel closed against the air and 

 damp, ready for use. 



Take tin boxes, of different sizes, per- 

 forated freely with holes, large enough to 

 admit a moderate-sized pea, on the top 

 and on all sides, from the top to about 

 two inches from the bottom, but no lower ; 

 next, take some sheets of blotting-paper, 

 drying paper, or flannel, line the sides of 

 the box as low as the holes, but no lower ; 

 put a layer of the mixed sand and lime 

 in the box (not heated), then place your 

 fungi stems upwards, gently shake in the 

 mixture till it reaches the edge of the 

 pileus or gills, but not to cover them ; 

 now take a few strips carelessly torn from 

 your paper or flannel, sufficiently long to 

 cross the gills of the fungi and touch all 

 sides of your box, like the medullary 

 rays of au exogenous stem. This, by 

 means of capillary attraction, will absorb 

 the moisture from the gills of the fungi as 

 •well as that taken up by the sand, and 

 convey it to the paper at the sides, where 

 it will evaporate through the holes and 

 escape into the atmosphere ; the box 

 should be filled with the mixtui-e to within 

 half an inch of the top, but do not cover 

 the top with paper. When all the boxes 

 are prepared let them be stood in a slow 

 oven, on the hob of a fireplace, the funnel 

 of a steamer, the boiler of an engine, 

 bath-room, or any situation where there is 

 a regular and not too high a temperature. 

 Take especial care that the temperature is 

 not excessive, and that the sand is not put 

 in hot. I have little faith in drying by 

 pouring heated sand upon them. It is 

 not a sudden and high temperature we 

 require, but a low continuous heat, and 

 that from beneath, driving the moisture 

 to the surface, where it will evaporate. 

 To ascertain if they are sufficiently dry, 

 hold a piece of clean dry glass over a per- 

 forated box at a tolerably high tempsra- 

 ture. If moisture is still remaining it 

 will soon be indicated by a foggy appear- 

 ance on the glass. With respect to flat- 

 tening, as fungi are generally of a tough 

 leathery texture, they may ba flattened 

 with care in an ordinary press, and I 



believe that their form, like that of most 

 cryptogamic plants, may be restored by 

 boiling water.- Specimens to be collected 

 tor the hei'barium should not have the 

 roots cut olf. 



Fungi on tlie Stems of Trees, — The 

 parasitic and epiphytal fungi demand but 

 few words. They are mostly on leaves of 

 plants, and wdl 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 dried in a warm 

 room, or in the sun, and pressed if in- 

 clined to shrivel. Those found in or on 

 the surfiice of liquids will require a very 

 differiint treatment ; when first removed 

 from the liquid they must be placed on a 

 pad of blotting-paper, six or eight sheets 

 thick, and laid on a sloping board to drain, 

 and during intervals as much must be 

 absorbed as possible by gently pressing 

 blotting-paper on the surface. No attempt 

 should be made to press them till as much 

 moisture as possible is absorbed by ex- 

 posure 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 irregu- 

 lar 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 bi'ead, 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 preserve them. Many of 

 the agarics and other fungi may have their 

 delicate colours preseiwed by absorbing any 

 moisture on their surface with a piece of 

 blotting-paper, and varnishing them with a 

 hard transparent varnish immediately they 

 are removed from the ground, or wherever 

 they grow, and suspended with strings in 

 the air. Where the whole plant is co- 

 loured, and sevei'al are collected, different 

 parts of each should be varnished, as the 

 moisture cannot evaporate through the 

 varnish. — (From an admirable paper on 

 "Fungi," by Mr. F. Y. Beocas, in No. 2 

 of S^creative Science.) 



