COMMON MOULDS AND MILDEWS. 53 
appearance of the fungus being that of an agglomeration of small 
waxy-red looking saucers as shown at x. 
And now we come to a species of Zoru/a, probably new, perhaps 
not, let us call it Zorula gossypina, it appeared as a small black 
speck upon the inside of a bottle in which some other fungi were 
being cultivated. It spread with marvellous rapidity over the nidus 
(damp cotton), and the first production was cultivated until the area 
covered was equal to 10,000 times the size of the original: under all 
conditions of heat and humidity, and yet the only form shown was 
that at a’. It was at first thought to be an Arthroderma, though 
this belief is now abandoned, and in regarding it as Z° gossypina, a 
name suggested by Dr. M. C. Cooke, we hold the opinion that it 
has quite as much right to be regarded as a new species as many 
others in existing handbooks. 
Puccinia graminis at ¢c closes our list of common moulds and 
mildews ; it is given as a specimen of those micro-fungi which grow 
upon living plants. It is to be found upon the straw of standing 
corn. Those fungi which grow upon living plants are but rarely 
found on decomposing substances, though it is not quite certain 
whether one form of fruit may not be found on a decomposing 
nidus, as in Spheria herbarum. 
We have now indicated some work for the microscope. If the 
enthusiastic enquirer wishes for a subject let him take some paper, 
rags, sacking and other sundry materials mentioned in this article 
and place them in a hamper in a damp and not too cold cellar— 
let him forget them, and return again after some months, when no 
doubt he will find work for his microscope for the remainder of the 
year. 
Now a word or two as to viewing and mounting such objects as 
these: it should be remembered that mounted specimens are 
worthless unless they show the characteristics of the species and 
genus. This observation may be taken to heart by some profes- 
sional mounters; we have seen slides of AM/ucor phycomyces and 
Aspergillus glaucus sent out as such, which the mounter would 
never be able to re-name, were they returned to him without the 
labels. 
The Mucedines give the preparer a little trouble, for not only do 
the spores leave the pedicels on contact with any fluid but the 
slightest touch is often sufficient to detach them. The writer has 
for some time past mounted species of this order dry, in brown 
varnish cells, which should be as shallow as possible to get the best 
illumination from above. ‘The specimen should be detached from 
its nidus very carefully and laid out in the cell under a low power, 
so as to faithfully represent the natural plant, and then dried 
thoroughly over a box of chloride of calcium under a bell jar, before 
putting on the cover. We have many slides of the Mucedines 
