Newsletter of the FRIENDS OF THE FARLOW

Deborah Smiley Number 66 Spring 2016 Interim Editor

Rare Early Diatom Ambrotype by Amasa Mason Eaton (1841-1914) Wayne Barrar

hotographs are often added to archives for tions at the Farlow, but had indicated to him that Ptheir content or because of their association I was also interested in early photomicrography with the photographer, but sometimes their in- – always hoping to view some of the early pho- dividual significance becomes apparent years af- tographic outputs from Victorian microscopists. ter their acquisition, emerging through a happy I was excited to see what I immediately chance coincidence of factors. knew were exceedingly interesting images, a pair Such a situation occurred recently when Rob- of glass media ambrotypes of diatom frustules. ert Edgar of the Farlow Herbarium showed me a From the surname on the back, and the period pair of images he knew I’d be keen to see. I was in which ambrotypes were being produced, we visiting to research historical diatom slide collec- were able to identify them as having been made

Microscopic images of diatoms, Amasa Mason Eaton ambrotypes, 1861 2 by Amasa Mason Eaton in 1861. been essential for resolving the detail of diatom The images are products of a rich formative structure. period, not only in regard to photomicrography, In his paper Eaton outlines various experi- but for in general. ments with lighting regimes, noting that he re- The fundamental link between microscopy quired direct sunlight rather than artificial sourc- and photography was established within months es to gain enough illumination to of the announcement of the “discovery” of pho- through the microscope. Initially he used glass tography in 1839. Léon Bernard Foucault and plates to make negatives, using these to print what Alfred Donné were producing he termed “common photographs in the usual with a solar microscope in France in 1840,1 and way” (probably albumen prints) on paper he had in the same year photographic pioneer William hand-coated himself. He was clearly adaptive in Henry Fox Talbot made numerous photomicro- his approach, even resorting to the use of a thin graphs in England, including of diatoms, using coating of milk on his focussing screen in order his renowned salted-paper print process. Others to be able to render the low-intensity microscope were independently creating some of the earliest image clear enough to focus sharply. Despite his photomicrographs ever made by attaching their efforts, though, he was dissatisfied with the reso- cameras to a microscope. In the United States, da- lution and overall sharpness of his “paper prints.” guerreotypes were made by W.H. Goode of Yale He indicates that he turned instead to another University in 1840,2 and John William Draper, photographic methodology, the ambrotype. This who had made the first photograph of the moon. is a direct positive process, with no need to utilise Draper continued to experiment with the micro- an intermediate . Eaton recognized that scope, including producing a of al- this was likely to have resulted in crisper images, gae in 1856.3 given that paper prints were still bedevilled by is- Many other early practitioners also experi- sues such as managing contrast, artefacts left in mented with techniques, processes and equip- processing, the effect of paper fibers on clarity, and ment in very fundamental ways. While by today’s even fairly unreliable light fastness (the dreaded standards they were generalists with broad-based fading image). By comparison, the use of a direct skills and very enquiring approaches, rather than pathway from object (specimen on the slide) to specialists, they often attained high levels of ex- a positive glass image (the ambrotype) was better pertise. They developed strong networks and often suited to his desire for objective rendering of an exchanged knowledge, equipment and samples. They also disseminated their findings generally through the delivery of papers or presentations. Rarest of the Rare Microscopical societies were particularly strong in To celebrate the reissue of The Rarest of the Rare: the nineteenth century. Stories Behind the Treasures at the Harvard Museum It was in this context that Eaton contribut- of Natural History by Nancy Pick, the Museum ed a paper on his ambrotypes for presentation at asked several curators to show items from their the Boston Society of Natural History in March collections. Don Pfister chose to talk about one 1861.4 The paper was read on his behalf by Loring item from the Farlow, the ambrotypes that are the Woart Bailey – son of eminent diatom authority subject of the feature article of this issue. His pri- Jacob Whitman Bailey– with whom Eaton was mary point was that these were discovered in the clearly associated. The younger Bailey was pre- collections and very little was known about them sumably the source of the microscope objective or their significance until by a stroke of good luck lens Eaton had used which was described in the we had Wayne Barrar using the collections. Our paper as having “belonged formerly to Professor collections are full of rare and important items Bailey, of West Point,” and which had no doubt and some of them have yet to be discovered! 3 object intricately constructed as a diatom valve. ideal naturally engineered “micro rulings” for as- The ambrotype had its own drawbacks, how- sessing optics (and in his case the actual resolution ever. One would have been the fact that each am- of the photographic image itself), and commercial brotype is essentially a unique photographic ar- slide mounters provided test plates in the form of tefact; in order to have multiple copies, perhaps arranged slides of such species. to distribute to other interested microscopists, he However, while Eaton was no doubt interested would have needed either to make multiple am- in the diatom as an object for viewing, there is no brotypes of the same thing, or to try to repho- evidence to suggest that Diatomaceae were of any tograph the original – both relatively complex interest to him in a taxonomic or more broadly operations compared with using a photographic biological sense. Despite the superb abilities he negative/positive print process. Furthermore am- demonstrated in the production of these two fine brotypes were made using the wet pro- examples, an initial survey of ambrotypes in col- cess, whereby the glass plate needed to be coated lections has not yet located any others credited to with sensitizer reagents just before use, exposed him. Nor is there any indication to date of any while still “sticky” and developed almost straight- photographs by him of other subject matter. How away. Eaton obviously decided that the potential many ambrotypes he produced is unclear, but due advantages outweighed the complications. to the slowness of the wet com- The resulting ambrotype photomicrographs bined with the complexity of photographing via discussed in his paper are almost certainly those the microscope, it is likely to be a very conserva- now held in the Farlow collection. tive number. These images are fine examples of the ambro- As well as marking the date of his ambrotypes type. Both have the classic dark tonality of the and accompanying paper, 1861 was also the year process, which essentially provides an underex- in which Eaton graduated from Brown Univer- posed negative photograph backed by balsam and, sity. While general accounts of his subsequent life generally, black varnish to elicit an overall “from make mention of his endeavours and success par- nature” veracity as a “positive.” Like most extant ticularly with reference to his career in law, they ambrotypes they are bordered by ornate protective do not appear to cite an ongoing interest in either Victorian metallic gilt frames and would gener- microscopy or photography. The Farlow photo- ally have been housed in a similarly ornate hinged micrographs would seem to have been a focussed case. Most ambrotypes were commercial studio but fleeting pursuit of a young man moving in the portraits; a smaller number were landscape views; academic, cultural and scientific circles that gen- while even fewer were of a scientific or specialized erated so much informal innovation in the nine- technical subject matter. These images are rare. teenth century. n The fact that Eaton used diatoms to perfect Associate Professor Wayne Barrar his photomicrography is not surprising. One im- Whiti o Rehua School of Art age shows a typical test diatom genus used by Massey University, New Zealand microscopists then and now to visualize the re- 1 Thomas, Ann. Beauty of Another Order: Photography and Science (New Haven: solving power or resolution of the optics of the Yale University Press and National Gallery of Canada, 1997), 99. 2 Newhall, Beaumont. The Daguerreotype in America (Duell, Sloan and Pearce, microscope, particularly the objective lens. At the 1961), 94. 3 Held in the collection of the National Museum of American History, Bering time Eaton was making these images, the desire Center, Division of Information Technology and Communications, Photographic to maximize this resolution had reached almost History Collection, Image No. AFS 146. Online at: http://www.luminous-lint. com/app/image/392543361878039416281. fanatical levels among the technically minded us- 4 Eaton, Amasa M. Micro-photography, or the photgraphic delineation of micro- scopic objects. Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History Vol. viii, ers of the highly popular microscope. The finely 1862:105-7. delineated silica valve structure of diatoms such as Pleurosigma formosum, imaged by Eaton, were 4 FoF Annual Meeting

The FoF annual meeting took place on November 7, 2015 . Greg Mueller from the Chicago Botanic Garden was our speaker. His talk was titled: “Challenges and Opportunities for Fungal Conservation.” The gathering was well attended and the audience enjoyed socializing with each other and Greg following the lecture.

Gregory Muller presenting on “Challenges and Opportunities for Fungal Conservation”

Don Pfister and George Davis 5

Martha Finta with visiting researchers from Kathy LoBuglio, Scott LaGreca and Elizabeth Kneiper Pakistan, Shah Hussain and Ishtiaq Ahmad

George Davis Jason Karakehian

Scott LaGreca Celebrating with fungi 6 Revising Thaxter’s Sequestrate Basidiomycetes by Francisco Kuhar

n 1906 Roland Thaxter visited southern Pata- new information. The variation of anatomical fea- Igonia and made invaluable collections of false tures was studied by comparing fruit bodies from truffles associated with southern beech forests. the same and different collections at the mac- These collections are kept in the Farlow Herbari- ro- and microscopic levels, and the results were um and have been annotated and studied by many statistically contrasted to, and compared with, great mycologists. The collections consist of many available descriptions. Some collections showed a dried specimens, slides and some materials main- huge range of variation in the spore size and shape tained in liquid preservatives together with invalu- within the same fruit body suggesting that spe- able annotations made by specialists who studied cies delimited on these bases should be revised. them during the twentieth century. Some of these The microscopic structure of the surface of the materials have received different names according fruit bodies also showed different intra-specific to the accepted knowledge of each time and some configurations that could be interpreted as matu- others have served as reference materials for the rity stages or maybe even as preservation artifacts. description of new species. These data will help us identify new collections of Recent literature suggests that some of the taxa the fungi in the field, redefine the boundaries be- represented in these materials may be of ecologic tween species, and revise the taxonomic position importance due to their symbiotic associations to of the described taxa according to modern phylo- the southern beeches. Other studies report un- genetic systematics. n usual variations within species related to Thaxter’s findings. Save the Date for During a visit supported by the FoF, all mate- Clara Cummings Walk rials corresponding to hypogeous basidiomycetes th from these collections, especially those related to Sunday, June 12 the genus Descomyces, were revised in light of this Noanet Woodlands, Dover MA

OEB 54 – Biology of theFungi, An Introductory Course by Donald Pfister

n long standing mycological tradition, mycolo- but they also benefit from instruction by a group Igy courses are generally offered in the Fall when of eminent specialists. fungi are prominent in the field. OEB 54 had fol- lowed this pattern for many years but, for a vari- OEB 54 Spring 2016 Guest Lecturers: ety of reasons, Don decided to give the course in David Hibbett, Clark University; the Spring. The result has been a revamped ver- Meredith Blackwell, Louisiana State sion of the course with an emphasis on laboratory University and University of work and particularly culturing fungi. We have South Carolina; also been able to bring in several mycologists to Kabir Peay, Stanford University; lecture and participate in the labs. We provide a Cathie Aime, Purdue University; list below. The students in the course not only Matt Smith, University of Florida; have the opportunity to use the Farlow facilities Tim James, University of Michigan. n 7 Visit by Ana Sofia Reboleira Digitizing Projects arly in 2016 the Harvard University Herbaria at the Farlow Esponsored the month-long visit of Ana Sofia Reboleira, a post-doctoral fellow from the Natural We continue our reporting on the several History Museum of Denmark at the University projects underway to digitize collections at of Copenhagen, to the Farlow. Sofia’s research is the Farlow. centered on cave biology with particular interest on millipedes, and she has discovered that some iDigBio (Integrated Digitized Biocollec- of these cave-dwelling creatures are hosts to mem- tions), the National Resource for Advanc- bers of the Laboulbeniales. ing Digitization of Biodiversity Collections Several taxonomic questions have arisen from (ADBC) is funded by the National Science the study of these fungi. Working with graduate Foundation. Michaela Schmull, Anne Marie student Danny Haelewaters, Sofia began an in- Countie, and Don Pfister attended the iDig- vestigation of several of these millipede-dwelling Bio Summit, November 4-6, 2015. There fungi to determine species delimitation involv- they learned about various ongoing projects ing two recently described species of the genus and were introduced to the project leader- Diplopodomyces. They are using molecular phylo- ship team for the newest of the projects with genetic methods in their attempt to determine if which we will be involved. The new projects these two species might be the same phylogenetic will include various groups of microfungi. species with divergent divergent morphologies. Sofia gave a well-attended seminar entitled, “Un- Don also presented the macrofungus proj- safe sex and interesting facts about the biology of ect to the Boston Mycological Club on Jan- cave inhabitants,” as part of the Harvard Univer- uary 4, 2016. This presentation was aimed sity Herbaria series. n at encouraging members of the public to engage in these digital projects. Through crowd sourcing portals digitized labels can be further transcribed, thus helping to FoF Book Sale Update augment the data currently available. n

The selection of books for the 2016 book sale will begin in the next few weeks. We always welcome Ascomycete.org Featured donations of books related to cryptogamic topics. Donors occasionally offer titles on broader top- Richard Korf’s Career ics but those do not usually sell so please consider giving works on mycology, bryology, lichenology, In honor of mycologist Richard P. Korf’s 90th etc. only. Please contact Judy Warnement (warne- birthday a special issue of Ascomycete.org (vol- [email protected]) if you have questions or ume 7, fascicle 6) was produced. This special vol- donations. ume was edited by Nicolas Van Vooren and Don- Recent visitor Ishtiaq Ahmad was very happy ald Pfister. Don was Dick’s student at Cornell and to accept a selection of general mycology titles many of Dick’s students and associates joined in from the FoF inventory. He assured us that the celebrating this milestone. Several new species are materials would be of great benefit to his labora- included that were named for Dick. Dick was one tory colleagues and future students back home in of our FoF speakers many years ago and has al- Pakistan. n ways been a Farlow supporter. n 8 Teresa Iturriaga’s Peru Trip: 15-18 October 2015

eresa Iturriaga, a Research Associate at the Satellite meeting: TFarlow Herbarium, was granted travel funds T. Iturriaga also participated in a satellite from the Friends of the Farlow to participate as meeting attended by Magdalena Pavlich, next an invited speaker in a symposium on Amazonian president of the Asociación Latinoamericana de fungi (http://andesamazonmeeting.org/sympo- Micología (ALM), and other mycologists from sium-04-amazonian-fungi). Peru, to plan the next congress and pre-congress Symposium: courses that will take place there in 2017. Iturria- This symposium was part of the First Interna- ga will organize a symposium on Ascomycetes, as tional Andes-Amazon Biodiversity Conservation well as a field pre-congress course on Ascomycetes. meeting that took place from October 15th to the 18th (2015) in Lima, Peru. The title of the congress was “Biodiversity and Conservation of the Tropical Andes and the Amazon Rainforest.” Iturriaga’s pre- sentation, “Amazonian Collections at the Farlow Herbarium,” presented the work that she has been conducting on the M. A. Gaillard’s collections of fungi from the Venezuelan Amazon (part of the Patouil- lard herbarium at the Farlow Herbarium [FH]) in order to assess climate change. M. A. Gaillard was a French botanist who collected fungi and plant specimens in Caracas and in southern Venezuela along the Orinoco River in 1887. His col- lections were studied by N. Patouillard in Magdalena Pavlich, President for the next Congress of the ALM Paris and resulted in the description of a (CLAM) in Peru, 22-25 August 2017, Teresa Irturuiga, and Eimy Rivas Plata- High Diversity of Graphidaceae in Amazonian Peru number of new genera and species. These specimens establish a baseline for environ- mental studies. A next step will be to search for critical species in fungal collections in Venezu- Contacts with specialists working in bio- elan herbaria, and in other herbaria in institutions diversity and conservation in Peru: that house Venezuelan collections. Many of these Many contacts were established, which will herbaria are digitized and their holdings are avail- broaden the scope of the kinds of collaboration able on the Internet. Once all this information is between researchers at FH and Peruvian and in- processed, preliminary decisions may be made re- ternational specialists working in biodiversity and garding localities in Venezuela to be explored for conservation in Peru. rare or locally extripated species. This information The Friends of the Farlow assistance opened will provide better knowledge of the current sta- the door to collaboration between the Farlow tus of species, and hopefully will direct researchers Herbarium and Peruvian mycological researchers, to fungi that can be used as models for assessing while at the same time opening possibilities of ex- change in the mycota due to climate and other change among colleagues. n factors. 9 Pressed Seaweed Albums on Exhibit in the Farlow

t was decided that the name should not be dis- Iclosed. Here is one suggestion to begin the ar- ticle: “In the Spring of 2015, all algae albums at the Harvard University Herbaria were extensively studied.” Some were housed in the Farlow library and others in the herbarium. The library and cu- ratorial staff decided to consolidate the materials in the library due to the varied formats and a lack of descriptive detail. The collection of pressed sea- weed albums and monographs includes 16 titles dating from the mid-1800s when seaweed collec- tion was at its height of popularity. Seaweed collecting embodied a cross section of Victorian-era interests, allowing men and wom- en alike to explore nature, improve their scientific water, the pliers were used to handle the specimen knowledge, and create an attractive memento to and free it from excessive sand and shells. It was decorate their homes. By the 1840s several books then re-submerged in salt water and the mounting on identifying and preserving seaweed had been paper was simultaneously maneuvered under the published, including the series Photographs of Brit- specimen until it rested on top. The drying and ish Algae by Anna Atkins. Atkins’s guide is consid- pressing process consisted of layering the mount- ered the first of these books illustrated with photo- ing papers with various types of blotting cloth and graphic images because she used cyanotype prints additional paper topped with weights. Hervey rec- to document various species. The cyanotypes were ommended that about fifty pounds of rocks found created by placing seaweed onto photosensitive by the seashore would serve as weights. Most types paper and exposed to light, resulting in a negative of seaweed emit a gelatinous substance that ad- image of the plant. Amateurs everywhere were in- hered them to the mounting board, but various spired by Atkins’s work and waded into tide pools types of gummed paper and adhesives were used to collect and preserve their own specimens. if necessary. In 1881, A.B. Hervey’s Sea Mosses: A Collector’s Images shown above are examples from a sea Guide and an Introduction to the Study of Marine moss album created by Mary Robinson on Mar- Algae outlined how to properly press and mount tha’s Vineyard in the late nineteenth century. various types of algae. In celebration of this accomplishment, a selec- Hervey recommended a tool set that included tion of the albums was on display in the Farlow scissors, a pair of pliers, a stick with a needle em- library and lobby exhibit cases. The collection is bedded in the end, at least two bowls for water, permanently housed in the Farlow Library stacks, blotting paper, cotton cloth, and cards on which and records can be searched and viewed in Har- to mount the specimens. vard’s online catalog, HOLLIS Classic. A full list Pliers and scissors were used to handle the spec- can be viewed by searching “algae” in the “Other imens and cut away any extraneous branches, and call number” field. The albums vary in size, style, the needle was used like a pencil so that the plant and format and all are accessible to users. Contact can be moved around with relative ease to show the library staff with any questions about access the finer details. With the seaweed in a bowl of salt ([email protected]). n 10 Danny Haelewaters Collects in Panama

raduate student Danny Haelewaters and Ghis wife (and biologist!), Sarah Verhaeghen, went to Panama to collect insects in June and July of 2015. They explored Barro Colorado Island and visited the pinned insect collection at Tupper Center of the Smithsonian Tropical Research In- stitute (STRI). The trip was also part of a new collaboration with researchers at the Universidad Autónoma de Chiriquí (UNACHI) in Davíd, Chiriquí in west- ern Panama. Haelewaters and Verhaeghen worked together with professors Rosa Villarreal and Juan Bernal-Vega and their students. The team searched Danny Haelewaters collecting insects from plant material using a mouth-operated aspirator. in citrus plantations for ladybirds (or ladybugs or coccinellids) infected with Laboulbeniales fungi and succeeded in finding these and many other insects. This successful collaboration resulted in a re- turn trip by Haelewaters to Panama in January 2016 to work more closely with Villarreal and Bernal-Vega. He has been invited to return in July of 2016 to present a seminar and to collect addi- tional specimens. Finally, Haelewaters and Verhaeghen partici- pated in two field trips at night, capturing bats in mist nets and plucking off their ectoparasitic bat flies, some with Laboulbeniales hyperparasites! Cutting off Heliconia flowers, which are micro-habitats for tiny Staphylinidae and other insects. Some of these actually carried One field trip was held in Gamboa, with research- Laboulbeniales fungi. ers from the group of Dr. Rachel Page (Smithso- nian Tropical Research Institute), the other field trip took place at Barro Colorado Island, with Thomas Hiller (University of Ulm, Germany). To learn more about Danny’s time in Panama, visit his blog post at: http://www.dannyhaelewa- ters.com/bats-in-panama/ The following grants have funded Danny’s re- search: -Term-Time Research Travel Grant, David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies (to support fieldwork in Panama) - Summer Research Travel Grant, David Rock- Sarah Verhaeghen just found an insect infected with efeller Center for Latin American Studies Laboulbeniales fungi! - Torrey Botanical Society Graduate Student Research Fellowship n 11

Artibeus phaeotis, the pygmy fruit-eating bat, a member of A leaf nosed bat entangled in the net, ready to be un-entan- the Phyllostomidae. These bats are characterized by their gled, leg by leg, wing by wing, sometimes tooth by tooth, nose leaf, hence their common name “New World leaf nosed while holding it with one hand not to be bitten (thumb at bats.” The bats carry ectoparasitic flies, and those flies some- the head, index finger at the chest). times can bear ectoparasitic fungal “hyperparasites.”

Feeding the Jamaican fruit bat, Artibeus jamaicensis, Inspecting the right wing of the Jamaican fruit bat, Artibeus with sugar water. jamaicensis, for presence of bat flies.

In July 2015, Haelewaters and Verhaeghen, were joined by Haelewaters, surrounded by many tubes with insects on 95% Prof. Dr. Juan Bernal-Vega, Prof. Rosa Villarreal, Maria Fuent- ethanol, working in the lab at night. es, and undergraduate student Leila Gonzalez during field trips to citrus plantations. On the picture, from left to right: Leila, Rosa, Danny, Sarah, Maria (and Juan was the photographer). 12

Joineceive theus! FOF Newsletter, notification of the annual book sale, discount on Farlow pub- Rlications and services, invitations to the annual meeting and other events, and a special welcome when visiting the Farlow.

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