Tae MuicroscopicaL NEws 
AND 
NORTHERN MICROSCOPIST. 
No. 35. NOVEMBER. 1883. 
THE MOUNTING, OF POLLEN AS AN 
OPAOUE, OBJECE* 
By W. Btiackpurn, F.R.MLS. 
OR scientific study pollen should be mounted not only as an 
opaque object, to be viewed by light reflected from its upper 
surface, but also immersed in suitable media, which render it more 
capable of transmitting light, when it may be viewed as a trans- 
parent object. Some kinds derive an advantage from being stained. 
My present purpose is to show how it may best be made to retain 
its natural appearance as an object, in many cases, of exquisite 
beauty, by being mounted dvy upon the anther from which it has 
escaped. When mounted in this way, it should, of course, be 
viewed through the binocular microscope. 
The collection and drying of the anthers. The flowers should be 
gathered when full-blown, just before they begin to fade. The 
petals may be turned down or removed, if necessary, so as to ex- 
pose the central organs, and the stamens then cut with fine scissors 
a short distance from the anthers, the latter being allowed to fall 
upon clean writing paper, when a selection may be made with a 
pocket lens of the specimens most suitable for preservation. Some 
mounters place these in pill-boxes to dry; but as they are liable to 
get shaken in these receptacles, I prefer to lay them carefully on a 
piece of clean writing-paper, previously folded, with the name and 
date outside, and refolding without pressure place the packet with 
others in a box, where I let it remain in oblivion for twelve months 
or perhaps two years. In the case of large anthers, such as the 
Lilium auratum, it may be advisable to lay them on a piece of 
blotting-paper, inside the writing paper, in order the better to 
* Demonstration notes read before the Mounting Section of the Manchester 
Microscopical Society, on Oct. 18th. 
VOL, III. 
