Notes on Collecting and Preserving Natural-History Objects
Science
Notes on Collecting and Preserving Natural-History Objects
Botanical specimens -- Collection and preservation; Zoological specimens -- Collection and preservation
In addition, however, to the mere drying, certain notes and particulars
are required, without which the best dried specimens are worthless;
and, again, for the larger fungi to be of real service, the spores of
each species must be separately preserved. As regards the drying of the
fleshy fungi themselves, the process to observe is as follows:--Lay
all ordinary Agarics out separately in a dry place, or in a current of
dry air from six to twelve, or even twenty-four hours, according to
the species, so that they may part with their superfluous moisture,
and thus facilitate drying. In the case of species with glutinous
pilei, it will be found that the gluten will more or less set, if
carefully attended to, in a dry warm place. If the larger fleshy
fungi are inadvertently placed under a propagating-glass, or left on
a lawn or grassy place, or kept in damp air from over-night till next
morning, the chances are that they will never properly dry at all.
When the superfluous moisture has evaporated they may be put gently
between drying-papers, but the weight put upon them must at first be
of the slightest kind; ordinary books, more or less light, will be
found quite sufficient; and few, or perhaps no other plants, require
such frequent changing as Agarics. An hour, or often less, suffices
for the first pressure, when care must be taken to supply them with
fresh and perfectly dry paper, or they will immediately mould. It is
a good plan, when the plants are half dry, to take them out of the
papers and put them in dry air, or in a sunny place for a short time
(the length of time being determined by experience and the nature of
the species), to part with more of their moisture: so, with constant
attention and frequent changing of the papers, very presentable
specimens may at last be obtained. These dried fungi will now be found
very useful for showing the more superficial characters of the plants;
but without sections, spores, and proper notes, they will be next to
useless. In Agarics it is of the first importance to show the nature
of the attachment of the gills to the stem: and should the stems be
furnished with a volva or annulus, this must be preserved with the
greatest care--young specimens, too, in different stages of growth,
are often of great value. If possible, it is well to have a series of
dried specimens of each species; one, as in Fig. 38, A, to display
the nature of the tubes in Boletus and the gills in the Agaricini,
whether they are thick or thin, crowded together or distant from each
other, plain or serrated, free or annexed; another, as at B, to show
the pileus, whether smooth or floccose, plain, warted, or zoned, and
the nature of the margin, whether striate, bullate, or plain; a third,
as at C, to show the attachment of pileus to stem in infancy; and,
fourthly, a section or thin slice removed from the exact middle of the
young plant from top to bottom, as at D: this will show the nature of
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