the character of the stem. The
other half of the pileus may be placed, gills downward, on a piece
of black paper, and allowed to rest there during the night. In the
morning the spores will have been thrown down upon the paper,
which may be placed with the other portions. When dry, the section,
profile, and spore paper may be mounted together on a piece of stiff
paper, and the name, locality, and date inscribed below, with any
additional particulars. It is advisable here to caution the collector
never to omit writing down these particulars at once when the
preparations are made, and to place them together, between the
folds of the drying paper, in order to prevent the possibility of a
mistake. Some small species may be dried whole or only cut down the
centre, but the spores should never be forgotten. When dried, either
before or after mounting, the specimens should be poisoned, in
order to preserve them from the attacks of insects. The best medium
for this purpose is carbolic acid, laid on with a small hog-hair
brush. Whatever substance is used, it must not be forgotten by the
manipulator that he is dealing with poison, and must exercise
caution. If the specimens are afterwards found to be insufficiently
poisoned, or that minute insects are present in the herbarium, fresh
poisoning will be necessary. Some think that benzine or spirits of
camphor is sufficient, but as either is volatile, it is not to be
trusted as a permanent preservative. Mr. English, of Epping, by an
ingenious method of his own, preserves a great number of the fleshy
species in their natural position, and although valueless for an
herbarium, they are not only very ornamental, but useful, if space
can be devoted to them.

Leaf parasites, whether on living or dead leaves, may be dried in the
usual way for drying plants, between folds of bibulous paper under
pressure. It may be sometimes necessary with dead leaves to throw them
in water, in order that they may be flattened without breaking, and
then dry them in the same manner as green leaves. All species produced
on a hard matrix, as wood, bark, etc., should have as much as possible
of the matrix pared away, so that the specimens may lie flat in the
herbarium. This is often facilitated in corticolous species by
removing the bark and drying it under pressure.

The dusty _Gasteromycetes_ are troublesome, especially the minute
species, and if mounted openly on paper are soon spoiled. A good plan
is to pr