1913] GODDARD—SOIL FUNGI 257 
brass rod, 11 cm. long and 1 cm. in diameter, made to operate 
as a piston inside the tube. At one end of the tube is a collar 
through which operates a small thumbscrew for holding the piston 
in any position desired. The opposite end is sharpened for enter- 
ing the soil. The brass rod is graduated so as to indicate the size 
of each soil sample in cc. At the thumbscrew end, the brass rod 
is rounded to form a convenient knob for holding. For use with 
the sampler, a lath 20cm. long and 5 cm. wide was perforated 
with a row of holes, each slightly larger than the sampler, running 
lengthwise of the lath and 2 cm. apart from center to center. 
The samples were taken as follows: first a hole, about 30 cm. 
Square and 20 cm. deep, was dug with a spade in the experimental 
plat. Then a vertical face of this hole was scraped off with a steril- 
ized steel spatula, and the fresh surface immediately covered by 
thelath. Next, the sampler, having been set for the size of sample 
desired, and sterilized in an alcohol flame immediately before use, 
was pushed horizontally into the soil through one of the holes in the 
lath at the desired depth. After being turned once or twice on 
its long axis to loosen the sample, the sampler was removed and 
the sample was pushed quickly into a sterilized, cotton-stoppered 
test tube provided for the purpose. The cotton plug was held 
between the fingers while putting in the sample, and was returned 
as quickly as possible. By this method, all surface contamination 
was avoided and only fungi actually existing in the soil at the depth 
of the sample were taken. A view of the whole sampling outfit 
is given in fig. 1. 
Samples of 2 cc. each were taken, and after being transferred 
to the sterile, cotton-stoppered test tubes, were carried to the 
laboratory and each treated with 18 cc. of sterile distilled water. 
Each sample was thoroughly shaken, and as soon as the coarser 
soil particles had settled, 2 or 3 drops were transferred, by means of 
sterilized pipettes, to the first of a series of three tubes, each of 
which contained 10 cc. of the gelatin medium, which had been 
melted previously and maintained at 42°-46° C. From the first 
of these three tubes 2 or 3 drops were transferred to the second, 
and from the second 2 or 3 drops to the third. Plates were then 
poured in the usual way. 
