292 FUNGI. 



sporidia are very delicate and hyaline, the septa cannot readily 

 be seen if present ; to aid in the examination, a drop of tincture 

 of iodine will be of considerable advantage. In many cases 

 sporidia, which are very indistinct in glycerine, are much more 

 distinct when the fluid is water. 



The following hints to travellers, as regards the collection of 

 fungi, drawn up some years since by the Rev. M. J. Berkeley, 

 have been widely circulated, and may be usefully inserted here, 

 though at the risk of repetition : 



" It is frequently complained that in collections of exotic plants, 

 no tribe is so much neglected as that of fungi ; this arises partly 

 from the supposed difficulty of preserving good specimens, partly 

 from their being less generally studied than other vegetable pro- 

 ductions. As, however, in no department of botany, there is a 

 greater probability of meeting with new forms, and the diffi- 

 culties, though confessedly great in one or two genera, are far 

 less than is often imagined, the following hints are respectfully 

 submitted to such collectors as may desire to neglect no part of 

 the vegetable kingdom. 



*' The greater proportion, especially of tropical fungi, are dried, 

 simply by light pressure, with as much ease as phcenogamous 

 plants ; indeed, a single change of the paper in which they are 

 placed is generally sufficient, and many, if wrapped Tip in soft 

 paper when gathered, and submitted to light pressure, require 

 no further attention. Such as are of a tough leathery nature, 

 if the paper be changed a few hours after the specimens have 

 been laid in, preserve all their characters admirably ; and if in 

 the course of a few weeks there is an opportunity of washing 

 them with a solution of turpentine and corrosive sublimate, 

 submitting them again to pressure for a few hours merely to 

 prevent their shrinking, there will be no fear of their suffering 

 from the attacks of insects. 



" Many of the mushroom tribe are so soft and watery that it 

 is very difficult to make good specimens without a degree of 

 labour which is quite out of the question with travellers. By 

 changing, however, the papers in which they are dried two or 

 three times the first day, if practicable, useful specimens may be 



