Notes on the Study of Botany. 257 



A collector's work does not cease when his specimens are dried. 

 Plants are subject to the attacks of insects and it is therefore necessary 

 to poison them in some way. The best protection is corrosive sublimate- 

 dissolved in alchol, which is applied lightly to the specimens with a soft 

 brush. It should be done as soon as the plants are dried, care being taken 

 afterwards to leave them spread out until the alcohol has evaporated. The 

 formula I used is : 



Corrosive sublimate i ',- 3 drachms. 



Carbolic acid i ] 2 " 



Alchol 12 ounces. 



All the work hitherto done, the collecting, drying and poisoning, 

 is but the preparation for the formation of an herbarium, the specimens 

 in which should be fastened on half sheets of stiff white paper, either by 

 slips of gummed paper or by glue applied to the backs of the specimens 

 themselves For a few cents a supply of white gummed paper, 

 sufficient to last for years, can be purchased at any printing establish- 

 ment. A narrow slip of this is cut off, moistened with the tongue, and 

 placed over the part of the plant to be fixed down. The advantage of 

 this process over actually glueing the specimens to the paper is i hat, in 

 case the plant has to be removed for examination or any other purpose, 

 these slips can be easily lifted. 



In mounting plants care must be exercised to keep the pile form- 

 ing each genus as nearly level as possible, by scattering the specimens 

 over the sheets instead of placing them all in the centre. If the plants 

 are small put some at the top of a sheet, some at the bottom, some on the 

 right side and some on the left ; occasionally, in the case of large 

 specimens, reversing them so as to have the thick stems and roots at 

 the top. In no case should more than one species be put on the same 

 sheet,but if small, two or more specimens of the same species may be 

 so placed. The best size for mounting paper is what is known as the 

 standard size, from its being the one used in the public herbaria of the 

 United States. This size, i6}4 xn^ inches, experience has determined 

 to be the best. My own sheets, I am sorry to say, are smaller, being 

 only i$j4* 10 inches, but my collection was started and had grown to 

 such a size before the standard was adopted, that to change it all would 



