I never knew these could stain on their own! I always figured the snails had to be processed first to produce Tyrian purple. Very cool how they just do that on their own!
Crocus…
the white one (just one) showed up this year, I’ve been here a decade and never saw one here…
Thank you, Mother Nature for this unexpected gift!
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Megalaria laureri is only really purple on the inside but it has to be my favourite lichen to observe under the microscope. It is such a shame it is so rare and threatened that one feels criminal having collected the times one couldn’t recognise it in the field.
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Wow! How do you get the cross sections so nice? I’ve tried the method that I’ve learned in my botany course, but the apothecia always just crumble and fall apart. Even with new razor blades.
I think these would be the main points I have:
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Use thin small razor blades for good control. I buy “half-blades” (equivalent to half a “safety razor blade”) and break them in half again. The robust “single edge” type is too large and unwieldy in my experience.
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Hold the razor blade between the thumb and index finger at a moderate angle. Rest your arm well on the table beside the dissecting scope and use only your fingers to move the blade. Anchor it in the bark slightly behind the apothecium and move it parallel to the surface (“slicing” rather than “chopping”). Use your previous cut as guide for the next one and cut plenty of slices if you aren’t very limited by material.
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Some apothecia are nice and will stick to the bark they are collected on, others will need fixing, as will most things collected on rock to avoide immediately dulling the blade. If so, isolate some apothecia or thallus pieces and attatch them to cardboard with a little glue or cheese wax.
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Most things are most easily cut in a dry state and will be too floppy when wet. A few species are the opposite.
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Practice, practice, practice. If you need a practical project for motivation and have some decidious forest of some age around I can recommend getting some polarised film (it is very easy to mod your scope for “crossed nichols”) and getting to know Lecanora argentata. It needs sections, the material is usually well-behaved, the starry-night views in the polarised light are beautiful, and it is distinct enough from the more synanthropic L. chlarotera (s.l.) that one eventually gets a reasonable gut feeling for it in the field.
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My favorite so far, this weevil: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/271403192
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Whoops!
@seeker1000 posted it above 
using the latin name
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But you have the close up picture! - Our pictures adding well. 
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I was reminded of this one while getting the name of another sawfly species …
Arge hasegawae | 하세가와등에잎벌 | Observation
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Common selfheal
Common blue violet
Ground ivy
Carpet bugle
Lesser periwinkle
Low quality grackle photo
Iridescent insects that I think are parasitic wasps
Common blue violet
Ground ivy
Carpet bugle
Lesser periwinkle
Low quality grackle photo
Iridescent insects that I think are parasitic wasps
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This freaky mushroom thing that grew on my window…
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/197383058
A few flatworms Ive found are also purple
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/145079286
This one, Humbertium interruptum has a really interesting pattern to it with a dark purple line in the middle. I haven’t seen this species again sadly.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/145047895
Purple flowers are more common but heres a few I’d like to show off— err, share
Crepidium kobi, they happened to be all blooming together.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/259769072
And this thing… not sure how those flowers work (or at least I’m assuming they’re flowers), I’m curious to know
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/260124092
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Viscid Violet Cort (Cortinarius iodes)
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/274375426
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How do you find those weird worms? I would love to see a planarian or flatworm or something, but all I can ever find are earthworms.