For simple microscopic examination it will be found convenient to first wet the material with alcohol on the slide, then with a weak solution of potassic hydrate, to cause the spores and other structures to assume proper plumpness. A little glycerine may be added or run under the cover if it is desired to preserve the material for further or prolonged study. For permanent mounting nothing in most cases is better than glycerine jelly. As a preparation, the material should lie for some time in Häntsch's fluid,[14] opportunity being given for evaporation of the alcohol and water. When the material shows the proper clearness and fulness, it may be mounted in jelly in the usual way. Kaiser's formula gives beautiful results. After mounting, the preparation should be sealed with some good cement, as Hollis's glue.
FOOTNOTES:
[4] DeBary, Morphology and Biology of the Fungi, p. 428.
[5] See, however, Ceratiomyxa, p. 18, following.
[6] Harper in Botanical Gazette, Vol. XXX., p. 219.
[7] The following germination periods are furnished by Dr. Constantineanu (Inaugural Dissertation ueber die Entwickelungsbedingungen der Myxomyceten; Halle, 1907).
| Reticularia lycoperdon | 30 to 60 min. |
| Fuligo ovata | 30 to 90 min. |
| Stemonitis splendens | 5 to 6 hrs. |
| Perichaena depressa | 5 to 8 hrs. |
| Amaurochaete atra | 6 to 10 hrs. |
| Arcyria incarnata | 8 to 10 hrs. |
| Lycogala epidendrum | to 60 hrs. |
| Physarum didermoides | 1 to 10 da. |
| Dictydium cancellatum | 1 to 20 da. |
These records are for sowings in drop cultures, in distilled water, kept at temperature of 65°–70° F. (18°–20° C.).
Our own experiments have been made both with distilled water and tap-water with the advantage in favor of the latter. Dictydium cancellatum germinates in tap-water at temperature 70°–80° F. in 12–15 hours fresh from the field. Fuligo ovata spores were all swarming in about one hour at the same temperature. Jahn (Myxomycetenstudien; Ber. der Deutschen Bot. Ges. Bd. XXIII., p. 495) finds that the germination in some cases as Stemonitis species, is hastened by wetting, then drying, then wetting again.