INTRODUCTION 29 



In drying specimens the material should be 

 floated out, and a mount-paper of suitable size placed 

 under it and slowly lifted out by one corner. By 

 means of a camel-hair brush the branches may be 

 kept apart, since they are apt to become entangled at 

 the critical moment of leaving the water. When this 

 happens at one or two spots merely, a drop of water 

 placed on the part will permit of rearrangement 

 without plunging the whole in again. A number of 

 specimens may be dried simultaneously by using, 

 instead of a basin, a shallow zinc tray with a per- 

 forated or wire-woven plate large enough for several 

 specimens. It requires practice in lifting it out, and 

 though specimens good enough for botanical pur- 

 poses may be so obtained, they are never so beauti- 

 fully arranged as when taken out singly on their 

 mounts. The wet specimens on their mounts 

 should be placed at once between sheets of drying- 

 paper (blotting-paper is too absorbent) with a layer 

 of muslin over each sheet of specimens to prevent 

 their adhering to the upper sheet of drying-paper. 

 As a rule seaweeds need less pressure than flower- 

 ing plants, and the collector will very soon learn to 

 adjust it. Plenty of drying-paper should be used, 

 and frequently changed twice during the first 

 twenty-four hours, and once afterwards until the 

 specimens are quite dry. 



Though dried specimens can be easily soaked out 

 again for microscopic examination, they are never so 

 good for this purpose as those that have been preserved 

 in fluid. A good method of soaking is to place the 

 part to be examined, over-night or longer, in absolute 



