ovide small square or round cardboard boxes, of not more than
a quarter of an inch in depth, and to glue the specimen to the bottom
at once, allowing it to dry in that position before replacing the
cover. The same method should be adopted for many of the moulds, such
as _Polyactis_, etc., which, under any circumstances, are difficult to
preserve.

In collecting moulds, we have found it an excellent plan to go out
provided with small wooden boxes, corked at top and bottom, such as
entomologists use, and some common pins. When a delicate mould is
collected on a decayed Agaric, or any other matrix, after clearing
away with a penknife all unnecessary portions of the matrix, the
specimen may be pinned down to the cork in one of these boxes. Another
method, and one advisable also for the _Myxogastres_, is to carry two
or three pill-boxes, in which, after being wrapped in tissue paper,
the specimen may be placed.

A great difficulty is often experienced with microscopic fungi, such,
for instance, as the _Sphaeriacei_, in the necessity, whenever a new
examination is required, to soak the specimen for some hours, and then
transfer the fruit to a slide, before it can be compared with any
newly-found specimen that has to be identified. To avoid this, mounted
specimens ready for the microscope are an acquisition, and may be
secured in the following manner. After the fungus has been soaked in
water, where that is necessary, and the hymenium extracted on the
point of a penknife, let it be transferred to the centre of a clean
glass slide. A drop of glycerine is let fall upon this nucleus, then
the covering glass placed over it. A slight pressure will flatten the
object and expel all the superfluous glycerine around the edges of the
covering glass. A spring clip holds the cover in position, whilst a
camel-hair pencil is used to remove the glycerine which may have been
expelled. This done, the edges of the cover may be fixed to the slide
by painting round with gum-dammar dissolved in benzole. In from twelve
to twenty-four hours the spring clip may be removed, and the mount
placed in the cabinet. Glycerine is, perhaps, the best medium for
mounting the majority of these objects, and when dammar and benzole
are used for fixing, there is no difficulty experienced, as is the
case with Canada balsam, if the superfluous glycerine is not wholly
washed away. Specimens of _Puccinia_ mounted in this way when fresh
gathered, and before any shrive