What are some of the most popular stains (please include wet mount media also)used in Microscopy?

[lperepol]

I am taking a poll on the most commonly used stains in microscopy. I'll summarize after a few posts.
Popular Science has a similar article -- that might need to be revisited.
Here is what I have on my list including wet mount media:

1) Bismarck Brown Y
2) Eosin Y
3) India Ink
4) Iodine Solution
5) Janus Green B 
6) Methylene Blue
7) Neutral Red
8) Red Food Coloring
9) Glycerol (wet mount media)

[desertrat]

Hematoxylin is still used a lot a as nuclear stain in microtome sections which are double stained. Eosin is the usual counterstain.

Carmine is still used for whole mounts of small organisms or small pieces of organisms in the animal kingdom.

These two stains are probably not much used by hobby microscopists these days.

[gastrotrichman]

Aceto orcein is often used to stain chromosomes. I find it useful as a quick stain for gastrotrichs. Toward the end of studying an immobile specimen I may run a very small amount of 2 percent aceto orcein under the coverslip. The pharynx, and scales on the outside of the specimen, often become clearer. Sometimes I dilute the stain with acetic acid to reduce the chances of overstaining; overstaining tends to obscure details rather then clarify them. Aceto orcein also seems to "dissolve" cilia, which may allow structures otherwise obscured by cilia to be examined. If applied too soon to a moribund specimen, it may cause the specimen to become distorted. In the U.S., small amounts (e.g., 10 ml) of 2 percent aceto orcein can be purchased from biological supply houses.

Natural orcein is extracted from two species of lichen. Synthetic orcein also is available, but is reputed to provide less contrast than natural orcein. I infer that the aceto orcein generally available is probably made with synthetic orcein.

Note that the stain has a fairly high concentration of acetic acid, and should be handled accordingly.

[Hobbyst46]

Methylene blue is popular for staining mammal cells in cultures.