166 



DR. ETHET M. DOIDGE 



It is also possible Avith tbe hand lens to discover 

 whether the fungus is in a suitable condition for study, 

 ix\, whether the reproductive bodies are present, bodies 

 of as great importance to these minute plants as the 

 flowers and fruit of tlie more conspicuous angiosperm. 

 If the specimen under examination belongs to the Peri- 

 spor'iaceae, the reproductive bodies can be detected as 

 ver}' minute black sj^heres, or, if it is one of the family 

 Microthyriaceai:, as hemispherical or elongated bodies 

 flattened against the leaf surface. These will be described 

 later in greater detail, j^o far as my experience goes, 

 mature fruiting bodies are usually present in the winter 

 months, and the best specimens have been collected from 

 May to August. 



When the fungus has been detected, a sufficient quan- 

 tity of the leaves bearing the black spots should be col- 

 lected ; at least two or three dozen leaves if thej^ are avail- 

 able, so that there will be sufficient material for exchange 

 should the fungus prove an especially interesting one. 

 It is also necessary to collect a good specimen of the host- 

 plant so that it can be identified: this should include 

 fruit and flowers if they are obtainable. 



The leaves can then be dried between newspapers under 

 pressure, in exactly the same way as specimens of flower- 

 ing plants, cai-e being taken to number the specimens con- 

 secutively and to enter in a note-book details of the lo- 

 cality and date of the collection, leaving a blank for the 

 names of the fungus and host if these are not known, 

 thus: — 



The example given is from the collection of Kentani 

 fungi made by Miss Pegler, who has collected a large 

 number of new and interesting si>ecies. 



