42 BRITISH FUNGI 



free from maggots, a fact well known to those who have much to 

 do with the common mushroom. To guard against this danger, 

 the sections should be allowed to soak for say five minutes in 

 methylated spirit. This treatment will kill any maggots present, 

 but not the eggs that would hatch out during the process of drying, 

 and if there is any indication of the presence of maggots during 

 the time the sections are drying, they can be destroyed by applying 

 a little methylated spirit with a brush. In addition to destroying 

 maggots, methylated spirit, by abstracting water from the speci- 

 mens, greatly facilitates the drying process, and my own practice 

 has been to soak every — or almost every — specimen in spirit for 

 a few minutes before commencing drying operations. After soaking 

 in the spirit, an exposure to the air for say a quarter of an hour 

 allows the spirit to evaporate, and the specimen is in ever\' way 

 better to manipulate. The same methylated spirit may be used 

 over and over again, so the process is not expensive. 



One thing I observe at this point, that I have previously for- 

 gotten, is, that the first thing to do with any specimen it is intended 

 to dry for a permanent record is to obtain a spore-print, as previously 

 described. This print should be fixed to the paper, along with 

 notes, on which the specimen is mounted. 



Many of the smaller agarics, and other fungi, can be placed in the 

 press for drying in an entire condition, but in the case of gill-bearing 

 fungi, a median section of the entire fungus is also desirable, for 

 the reasons given above. 



Numerous minute species of fungi that do not come within the 

 scope of this book, will be encountered when collecting. It is 

 strongly recommended that all such should be carefully preserved, 

 full notes being made of the general cliaracters presented when in 

 the fresh condition, as it is almost certain that as the student 

 makes headway with the study of mycology, every order of fungi 

 will be studied. When such time arrives, the possession of well- 

 preserved, dried material will be most acceptable, and it is onl}^ 

 by collecting and preserving material when opportunity offers, that 

 a fairly representative series of any one group of fvmgi can be got 

 together. About a thousand different kinds of minute fungi, 

 presenting to the naked eye the appearance of black dots or points, 

 occur on dead wood, bark, herbaceous stems, leaves, etc., belonging 

 to a family called Spluxriacere, and although to the naked eye, or 

 even under a pocket-lens, the species bear a strong family likeness, 

 yet when sections are made .through these minute dots, and ex- 

 amined under the microscope, the great variety and beauty of the 

 spores is something remarkable. Such sections can be mounted 

 permanently on glass slips, and serve for all time when the species 

 is once correctly named. When growing on leaves or other thin 

 substances, the material can be dried after the manner of flowering 

 plants. When growing on twigs or wood, thin pieces should be 



