26 



HARDWICKE'S S CIENC E-GOSSIP. 



felt independent of the more refined collecting- 

 papers. 



Now let us suppose that we have gathered fifty 

 specimens, and have returned home. The next 

 thing will be to put them as soon as may be in a 

 position for drying. 



Our drying apparatus then consists of half a dozen 

 smoothly-planed deal boards, and for our first collec- 

 tion we take two of these, and upon one we lay some 

 few folds of our old Times, then a specimen in their 

 papers (having previously improved their arrange- 

 ment, when necessary), and then some more folds of 

 paper, and proceed as before, until all the specimens 

 have been placed; then put a board on the top sheet, 

 andupoutliat astoneor a 7 or M-lb. weight, according 

 to the size and quantity of the specimens. If another 

 day's collection of specimens be made before the 

 foregoing are dry, they may be arranged in the same 

 way on the top board, and another board used and 

 the weight replaced. The object of thiols to keep 

 partially dried from fresh specimens, the putting 

 together of which is a fertile source of mildew and 

 decay. 



In arranging our specimens for the Herbarium, 

 we procure sheets of cartridge-paijer 18 in. long by 

 11 in. wide, using a fokipd sheet for each species. 



In these papers the si,ccimens are fastened down 

 in the following manner ; — 



Gum over a portion of the cartridge-paper (so as 

 to.have the same colour) with two consecutive coats 

 of a clean solution of gum-arabic. 



This can be cut into slips of any length and breadth, 

 making them as narrow as possible for the sake of 

 neatness, and when the specimen is placed in its 

 paper, a few of these slips may be made to confine 

 it in the desired position. Each example is then to 

 be labelled at the bottom of the sheet, and each label 

 should set forth : — a, Its botanical name ; b, its 

 ti'ivial or local name ; c, the locality whence it was 

 obtained ; d, the date when gathered : added to 

 which, if presented, the donor's name. 



The sheets so prepared maybe arranged in groups 

 or genera, each being folded in convenient paper or 

 cloth wrappers, and the whole arranged in volumes 

 of stiff covered portfolio. 



This, then, is all that seems to us necessary in the 

 collection and preservation of Grasses; but we would 

 recommend the student, if an artist, to make a 

 typical specimen of each sit for its portrait. In this 

 way we have made drawings of all the species and 

 varieties that have come in our way. 



Our drawings are life-size, usually lined in with 

 Indian ink with a fine " lithographic pen." These 

 we partially colour on the spot. 



The anatomical details are much enlarged and 

 always fully coloured. To this end our impedimenta 

 for a day among the Grasses consist of, besides, the 

 collecting-portfolio, a sketching-block, large octavo 

 size, and a small box of soft colours. Armed with 



these we have made many a drawing of a grass under 

 the shade of a tree, or in the parlour of some con- 

 tiguous inn. 



Lastly, we would venture to remark, if, besides the 

 interest which Grasses should have for the student 

 of botany, these plants be viewed, as they have ever 

 been by us, as indicators of the nature of soil and 

 the value and capabilities of the laud on which 

 they grow, the collector should not fail to make 

 notes connected with the soil, situation, and other 

 practical facts connected with the habitats of 



GRASSES. 



NEW BOOKS.* 



TTEEE we have a batch of new books, the cut- 

 -'--^ ting of whose leaves is a veritable luxury. 

 After having enjoyed them ourselves, we cannot do 

 better than make them known to our readers. 



Any work from the pen of Charles Darwin 

 requires no recommendation whatever of ours. 

 Whether we believe in his doctrine of Natural 

 Selection or not, we cannot do otherwise than admit 

 the vast influence his writings have exercised on 

 philosophical Natural History. He seems to us to 

 have done for this department of human knowledge 

 what Newton did for astronomy. A new impetus 

 has been given to every department of natural 

 science since the appearance of his " Origin of 

 Species." As a philosophical expounder of difficult 

 phenomena we know not where to look for his 

 equal. How careful an observer he is, and how 

 diligent a collector of facts, his works on the Cirri- 

 pedia, on the Fructification of Flowering Plants, 

 especially orchids, and that on Animals and Plants 

 under Domestication, all prove. If his " Descent 

 of Man" seemed to some a departure from his habit 

 of strictly adhering to facts, and appeared hazily 

 hypothetical, we feel sure that this on the "Emo- 

 tions " will more than atone for it. Every muscle 

 in the human face has its meaning here plainly 

 traced. The physiological expressions of men and 

 animals are compared or contrasted, and it is not 

 too much to say that physiognomy— before only 

 known in the works of Bell and the empirical theory 

 of Lavater— has obtained by the present work a 

 scientific basis. Those of our readers who know the 

 charm of Darwin's former works, how he leads his 

 readers on to his conclusions in the clearest and 



* " The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals." 

 By Charles Darwin, F.R.S. London: John Murray. 



"Manual of Palaeontology." By Professor Nicholson. 

 London : W. Blackwood & Son. 



"Art Studies from Nature, as applied to Design." London : 

 Virtue & Co. 



" Physical Geology and Geography of Great Britain." By 

 Professor Ramsay. Third Edition. London : Ed. Stanford. 



"Elementary Geology." By J. Clifton Ward. London: 

 Triibner & Co. 



