OF MICROSCOPIC OBJECTS. 87 
very beautiful, but are so minute as to require a high mag- 
nifying power to show them. The mould which forms on 
many substances is a fungus, and in some cases may be 
dried and preserved in its natural state. A friend of mine 
brought me a rose-bush completely covered with a white 
blight. This was found to be a fangus, which required a 
high magnifying power to showit. Being a very interesting 
object, it was desirable to preserve it, and this was perfectly 
effected without injury to the form by simply drying the 
leaf in a room usually occupied. Amongst the fungi are 
many objects well worth looking for, one of which is the 
Diachea elegans. This, the only species, says the Micro- 
graphic Dictionary, is found in England upon the living 
leaves of the lily-of-the-valley, &e. These little plants grow 
in masses, reminding one of mould, to a height of a quarter 
of an inch, and each “stem” is covered with a sheath, in 
shape somewhat like an elongated thimble. When ripe the 
sheath falls off and reveals the same shaped column, made 
up of beautifully fine network, with the spores lying here and 
there. This dries well, and is a good object for the middle 
powers. Amongst the fungi the blights of wheat and of 
other articles of food may be included. Many of them may 
be mounted dry; others, however, cannot be well pre- 
served except in liquids, and will be referred to in Chap- 
ter V. When rambling in a wood during the summerI sat 
down upon the fallen trunk of a tree, and here and there a 
few minute white spots caught my eye. I took my Cod- 
dington lens from my side-pocket and applied it to these. 
Judge of my surprise when I found each white speck a 
distinctly formed fungus resembling in size and form, to an 
amusing similarity, a disc of the arachnoidiscus. They were 
already dry, and I mounted them as ordinary dry objects ; 
and hitherto no change has taken place which I can detect. 
Amongst the zoophytes and sea-mats, commonly called 
sea-weeds, may be found very many interesting objects to 
be mounted dry. When this mode of preservation is used, 
it is necessary that all the sea-salt be thoroughly washed 
