IO6 THE TEACHING BOTANIST 



glass, like pictures. For investigation into and illustra- 

 tion of systematic Botany, an herbarium is absolutely 

 indispensable ; but in a teaching collection, for use where 

 the work is not primarily systematic, the plan of the 

 collection should accord with the plan of the teaching. 

 The question now arises whether it is not possible to 

 utilize the great ease, cheapness, and compactness of the 

 herbarium method of preservation of plants in the 

 formation of a collection to illustrate the principles of 

 morphology, ecology, and natural history. I have experi- 

 mented not a little upon this subject to the conclusion 

 that an herbarium of the greatest usefulness can be 

 made upon the same plan as is outlined above for a 

 botanical museum. Every specimen in it would be 

 selected to illustrate some fact or principle, and need not 

 at all consist of an entire plant, but only the portion of 

 it useful for this purpose. Drawings, photographs, full 

 labelling, etc., may be incorporated in it much easier 

 than in a museum. Indeed, I am inclined to question 

 whether, in cases where means and room are very lim- 

 ited, the herbarium on this plan may not be superior to 

 the museum. It must, however, always suffer the draw- 

 back of not being constantly visible to all, though even 

 this might be overcome by keeping the sheets mounted 

 in glass-fronted frames, like pictures. For use with a 

 class the sheets would temporarily be placed in glass- 

 fronted frames with removable backs. Of course the 

 ordinary herbarium methods would apply to the prepa- 



