A.V OPEN FIELD. 
5 
■collections, for though they are so fragile you may keep them 
(in a dry place) for twenty years, and they will be just as fit for 
examination at the end of that time as when first gathered ; the 
colours of the spores and capillitium, as the threads are called, 
retain their brightness without any apparent change. But in 
collecting them there is one thing to be careful about — if }mu 
gather the sporangia, or spore cases, before they are quite ripe, 
they must be brought home with care, placed under a bell jar 
and kept moist until they are perfectly mature ; many rare 
specimens which we see in collections are worthless from having 
been left to dry without this precaution. When they are fully 
developed the bit of leaf or w'ood on which they grow should be 
gummed or glued on a slip of stiff paper, with the ends turned 
up, so as just to fit into card boxes about three inches long ; 
they will then be protected from injury, even if they should 
tumble on the floor, and at the same time they can be taken out 
of their boxes for examination whenever you wish. Then, 
again, the capillitium and spores should be mounted in glycerine 
jelly, for they make most beautiful microscopic objects, as well 
as being valuable for comparison with other gatherings. 
If 5'ou pursue the subject to this point, you will probably 
find it so attractive that you will keep a note-book, and make 
drawings of the different forms you meet with, so that you need 
not be always putting them under the microscope when you 
want to compare them. To insure accuracy, and to be able to 
measure the size of the spores, you will be obliged to use a 
camera lucida. With a little practice you will be able to make 
coloured drawings under this useful little instrument, perfectly 
correct in outline, which will be of the utmost value to you as 
you continue your investigations. 
If you set to work in earnest to hunt for these curious crea- 
tures, you will probably be encouraged from time to time in find- 
ing new species, or such as have only been known in far distant 
countries. If you study their life history you will find your 
microscope no mere plaything, but the means of securing the 
high privilege of adding to the store of human knowledge ; for 
the marvellous attributes of the living beings that are hatched 
from the spores, and of the naked mass of protoplasm which 
constitutes the plasmodium, are associated with some of the 
most profound investigations which are exercising the minds of 
physiologists of the present day. 
In conclusion, a word of caution. Do not expect too 
great things at first, and do not be discouraged if you meet with 
some difficulty in making out the life history of these organisms. 
You may try to obtain “ swarm-cells,” as the living things are 
called which come out of the spores, and place the spores of 
several species in water, carefully keeping your slide in a moist 
chamber^' to prevent the water from drying up, for several 
* A couple of wet saucers placed one over the other answer the purpose very 
well. Place the slide between them with a wet watch glass over the cover slip. 
