48 Notes on Fungi. 



some mode of preserving specimens for comparison. Now it 

 is true that the softer fungi cannot be preserved as satisfactorily 

 as most Phgenogams, but with care they will make useful 

 specimens for the herbarium. If gathered in moderately dry 

 weather, and dried like other plants, after a day's exposure 

 to the air, they will often, if the papers are changed frequently, 

 and well dried before each change, make tolerable speci- 

 mens. Thin sections may be prepared in separate papers, and 

 both together, after being well washed with a solution of corro- 

 sive sublimate, when glued on paper, will give all the principal 

 characters, and the point of a lancet will always enable the 

 student to remove spores enough for microscopic observation. 

 The collection will, however, require frequent inspection, 

 especially to guard against the ravages of mites. A dry room 

 is essential ; but apart from this, if the drawers are lined with 

 cedar, few insects, if any, will appear, and a free use of pure 

 benzole will soon destroy any that may resist the cedar. 

 Moulds, perhaps, may be more difficult to guard against, but 

 frequent inspection and a dry atmosphere will do much. 



As regards the mode of keeping the specimens, far the 

 best way is to have slips of paper which are multiples of some 

 convenient unit, on which the specimens can be glued accord- 

 ing to size, and the slips can then be fastened to sheets of the 

 common herbarium dimensions. 



In the next set of notes the characters of the different 

 groups of Leucospori will be given, with notices of the most 

 approved and safe esculent species, as also of those which 

 have been clearly ascertained to be poisonous or deleterious. 



