![]() ![]() Staining chemicals Sphaerocysts in the stem structure of Russula cyanoxantha, a woodland mushroom commonly known as the Charcoal Burner, are responsible for its brittleness. Control knobs for moving the mechanical stage that holds the slide.(For biological instruments darkfield illumination is also from below but at an angle that ensures direct light doesn't enter the objective it requires either a special darkfield condenser or, for low magnification, a black stop inserted in the light path.) Adjustable illumination, most often from directly below the slide, and termed brightfield illumination.Other ‘must-have’ microscope features include: (Much of the time I simply observe the image that is transferred to my computer screen.) ![]() My own microscope is trinocular and so the camera adaptor is usable even while I am looking through the eyepieces. If you find the instructions provided with the microscope confusing (or if you are lucky enough to pick up a second-hand bargain without a handbook), someone in your local fungus group will almost certainly be willing to help you to set up and calibrate your system. Ideally, go for a microscope with a maximum magnification of x 1000, but to obtain reasonably clear images at such high magnification it should have an oil immersion lens.ĭimensions and ornamentation (spiny warts, for example - see picture, left) of spores are key identifying features, and so that you can measure the dimensions of things that you are looking at you will need an eyepiece that has an ocular micrometer or some other means of calibration. To study fungal spores, basidia, cystidia, sphaerocysts and other tiny features of fungi you will need a microscope capable of at least x 400 magnification. Spores of Lactarius azonites, seen via an oil immersion microscope lens But if you think an optical microscope is an expensive tool for something that for most of us is just a hobby, don’t even contemplate remortgaging your house for a bottom-of-the-range x-ray microscope. X-ray wavelengths are much shorter than those of light waves, and so much more detail can be studied using x-ray microscopy. That’s because the fine structures of fungi are very small - some are close to the limit of what can be resolved using light. ![]() Toy microscopes are okay for looking at animal and plant structures, but for mycology you really do need a good microscope. ![]() Here are a few tips on choosing and using a microscope for this purpose. Microscopic investigation is something best done indoors when you have enough time to do things properly. There is no point in doing so unless there is something that you can do at home that you couldn’t do in the field. When you can’t identify a fungus in the field you might want to bring a sample home for further study. The information below is a summarized extract from Pat O'Reilly's book, 'Fascinated by Fungi'. Microscopes and the Amateur Mycologist - a Beginner's Guide ![]()
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