apochronaut wrote: It's probably worth noting, that taking mushrooms for microscopy requires gloves, unless you are dead.....
I'm sorry, but this is a bit fungophobic. No mushroom can poison through skin.
Even tasting a tiny bit of raw mushroom is an important identification technique and is generally safe as long as one thoroughly spits afterwards (a lot of mentions of this in the literature, for example see
https://books.google.com/books?id=kSdA3 ... 0&lpg=PA10). I've read that a person even demonstrated the safety of tasting on Amanita phalloides many times on various events, but I can't find the source right now.
That said, wearing gloves will do no harm. And thoroughly washing one's hands is needed. And of course please don't eat mushrooms which identification is not absolutely sure. Also even edible mushrooms should be well-cooked because mushroom cell walls contain chitin.