286 MICROSCOPY FOR BEGINNERS. 



and examine the section in water, decolorizing and 

 staining it, if desired, by some of the many processes 

 described in the books devoted to microscopical mount- 

 ing. The leaves also contain numerous crystals in the 

 form called sphaeraphides, a sphere of crystal roughened 

 by minute points projecting from all parts of the sur- 

 face. 



16. PLANT HAIRS are as inexhaustible in appearance 

 and structure as are animal hairs. They are formed of 

 cells of varied size, shape, and contents. In many a 

 circulation of the protoplasm or cyclosis may be noticed. 

 They are simple or branched, terminating in a long 

 point, a blunt apex, or in a spherical or other shaped 

 gland. They may be examined by stripping off the 

 cuticle and studying it as a transparent object in water. 

 If the air adheres to the hairs and obscures them, as 

 often happens to the very abundant branching hairs of 

 the common mullein ( Verbdscum ), dip the cuticle in a 

 drop of alcohol, and immediately transfer it to the drop 

 of water already prepared on the slide. Hairs are to 

 be found on some part of almost every plant. 



17. POLLEN from the anthers of blooming flowers is 

 one of the most attractive of very common objects 

 which the beginner can find for examination as a dry 

 mount. It can be obtained by simply tapping the slide 

 with the ripe anther, when the pollen will be visible to 

 the naked eye as a yellow dust, resolvable by the micro- 

 scope into golden grains of varied forms and often of 

 remarkable surface sculpturing. It, of course, differs in 



