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 :— 
“tis 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 up 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 
