HARD WICKE'S S CTENCE - G O SSI P. 



131 



Tissues when dyed must be put into clean water, then, 

 if dyed with carmine, into acetic acid and water for 

 a minute ; if dyed with logwood they must be put 

 into alum and water, they must then be put into 

 two changes of clean water and brushed with 

 soft brushes. The remaining operations will be 

 described further on. 



I also use a blue dye made by pouring six or eight 

 drops of Judson's aniline blue into an ounce of 

 methylated spirit, shaking and filtering. Leaves and 

 sections to be dyed in this must be soaked in methy- 

 lated spirit for about a day after being taken out of 

 the last wash-water. After dyeing they must be 

 washed and brushed in methylated spirit. Leaves 

 generally require to be kept in this dye for about 

 a week. Leaves and sections after undergoing these 

 operations may either be mounted in Deane's gelatine 

 medium or in dammar or balsam dissolved in ben- 

 zole. I like to have specimens of the same kind 

 of leaves dyed in all three colours and mounted both 

 ways, or only the blue-dyed ones mounted in balsam 

 or dammar. 



Leaves or sections, which are to be mounted in 

 Deane's medium, should after the final washing, after 

 dyeing, be put into the following solution as recom- 

 mended by Mr. Deane, for two days : — 



Rectified spirit \\ ounces. 



Pure water 1^ ounces. 



Pure glycerine 5 drams. 



Take the tissues out of the above fluid, drain off as 

 much as possible and mount in the medium. I prefer 

 this way of mounting for most leaves and other 

 tissues, for this reason, it does not make them so very 

 transparent as dammar or balsam does, and generally 

 every cell-wall is distinctly seen, the crystals in the 

 cells, the hairs, and every other part of the leaf. 



Leaves to be mounted in dammar or balsam should 

 be thoroughly dried from the last washing, after 

 dyeing, this is best done by putting them into one of 

 the before-mentioned interleaved books, and carrying 

 in the pocket for a day or two. When thoroughly 

 dry take them out and put them into a small wide- 

 mouthed bottle, pour over them benzine enough to 

 cover them, and cork up tightly till perfectly trans- 

 parent. When ready to mount, take the leaves out 

 of the benzine, drain, but do not dry them, and 

 mount quickly in balsam or dammar dissolved in 

 benzine (benzine collas is the best benzine to use). 

 Leaves mounted in this way are beautiful objects 

 for the micro-polariscope, if they contain crystals or 

 have hairs upon them, but they are nearly always 

 so transparent that the cell-walls are quite ob- 

 literated. 



Good leaves to experiment upon, for sphreraphides, 

 are Chickweed, Mercury, Wild Strawberry, and 

 many of the Rosaces. 



For long crystal prisms — the outer skin of the 

 Gladiolus Bulb, Onion, Shalot, and Garlic. 



For short prismatic crystals— Clover, Sanfoin, 

 Beech, and Trefoil. 



For true raphides— Squill Bulb, Hyacinth, Blue 

 Bell, Lemna Trisulca, Balsams, Willow Herbs, 

 Fuchsias, and Arums. 



Cystoliths. — Leaves containing these should not 

 be mounted in balsam or dammar, as they do not 

 polarize, and are generally rendered quite invisible 

 by this way of mounting. 



No one need be afraid of not being able to procure 

 specimens, for I believe the greater part of our plants 

 contain crystals of one kind or other ; they may be 

 well and easily studied by mounting in Deane's 

 medium after preparing and dyeing, they may also 

 often be very well seen by simply bleaching, washing, 

 and examining in water. And I may add that the 

 crystals afford an abundance of beautiful materials 

 for the microscope, and that the more they are studied 

 the more they will be admired. Their taxonomic 

 and physiological significance too, is an important 

 subject for further research, concerning which, Pro- 

 fessor Gulliver has given the results of extensive 

 observations. He recommends boiling the plant 

 tissues in a solution of caustic potash ; this is an easy 

 way of exposing some crystals and their cells, though 

 by no means so effectual in the preparation of beau- 

 tiful and instructive slides, as the methods which I 

 have attempted to describe. 



NOTES ON A DREDGING EXPEDITION. 



BEFORE entering upon the subject of actual 

 dredging, it would, perhaps, be as well to give 

 a brief description of the little fishing-village which 

 formed my head-quarters. Rossbeigh is a small 

 watering-place on the east shore of Dingle Bay, in 

 Kerry, Ireland. It is the property of the Hon. Row- 

 land Winn, and consists of a few lodges, one of 

 which, in the month of September last, I rented. 

 About a mile away from these lodges are a few scat- 

 tered fishermen's huts ; and when the reader is 

 informed that Rossbeigh is eight miles from the 

 nearest town, and twenty from any railway station, 

 he will understand that I had greatly to depend upon 

 my own resources. 



On looking at the map of this district, it will be 

 noticed that there is a long spit of land running out 

 towards a place called "Inch": this spit is over 

 three miles in length, and is entirely composed of 

 sand. From the signal-towers at the termination of 

 this peninsula to a point called Feaklecally, an ima- 

 ginary line may be drawn, and within this no great 

 depth of water can, I believe, be found, for the fol- 

 lowing reason : Rossbeigh is situated on a mountain- 

 side, a mountain whose base terminates upon the 

 seashore ; the soil at its foot is largely composed of 

 a conglomerate, containing a great quantity of rounded 



