﻿FIELD AND FOREST. I4I 



perfect they pretty generally belong to those genera which will dry 

 equally well in the open air. The others, as a rule, change color and 

 wither in a short time. 



Dcedalca, Polyporus, Thelephora, and other genera of like character, 

 require only the open air, washing them in turpentine, in which a little 

 finely powdered corrosive sublimate has been mixed. Turpentine will 

 discolor, also carbolic acid, so that in defending them from insects, 

 we make them almost useless to ourselves. Some specimens are so 

 deliquescent that they melt away in a few hours, others in the same 

 time become offensive. 



Last summer a large and beautiful collection was sent to me from 

 an adjoining State. They were gathered late in the evening and 

 reached me by the early morning train. Some were even then melt- 

 ing, drop by drop, into an inky fluid. The others I hoped to preserve 

 in silver sand, and proceeded, as usual, to pack them in tin boxes, 

 first giving them a few hours in a dry place to part with their super- 

 fluous moisture. So far as the drying went I met with success, but in a 

 few weeks, I found that those which I had noted as involute, were deci- 

 dedly revolute, those obtusely umbonate were flattened out. Add to 

 this, both gills and pilens had faded from yellow into very dark brown, 

 some almost black. 



Repeated experiments and failures proved to me that lasting and 

 perfect specimens could not be obtained by drying in silver sand or on 

 paper ; though we read that Klotch, who was an indefatigable collector, 

 did succeed with the large Agarics and Boleti, by taking thin slices and 

 placing them between blotting paper, but even then he could not pre- 

 serve the colors. There are always plenty of poison-proof larvae, mites, 

 etc., roaming about in the herbarium, and our most precious specimens 

 are apt to fall victims to their rapacious appetite. 



To retain satisfactory and convenient specimens it is well to keep a 

 large blank book upon the book table. Whenever a specimen is 

 obtained, with a common drawing pencil, sketch its external form. 

 Mark well the character of the pilens, whether smooth, wasted, zoned, 

 plain or floccose. The margin, whether plain, striate or bullate. 

 With a sharp knife cut through the middle, from the top of the pilens 

 to the base of the stem, sketch the half, showing clearly the gills, 

 whether crowded, free, or otherwise. The stem, whether fistulose, or 



