212 



EECEEATIYE SCIENCE. 



DETING IN THE PEESS. 



Having picked the specimens over loosely, 

 take a large sheet of stout brown paper, turn 

 out the mosses upon it, and carefully remove 

 from them any dead leaves and other rubbish 

 that may be mixed with them, throw them 

 into a basin of boiling water, and, with your 

 drying paper and press beside you, remove 

 each specimen with a pair of surgeon's dis- 

 secting forceps, and place it on the paper with 

 all the water it has absorbed. It requires the 

 greatest care to prevent them shrivelling, 

 even when pressed, especially if they are 

 changed in a warm room. The press is a 

 compact little apparatus, and very light, 

 should be made of mahogany or cedar, nine 

 inches long and five and a half wide, fastened 

 by two light straps, as seen in the illustration 

 (Fig. 3) ; it may stand on a footstool in front 

 of the fire, or in any warm corner near the 

 fire-place. 



The specimens should first be changed in 

 about twelve hours after having been put in, 

 and again every second day until dry, and 

 take especial care not to press too tight, or 

 the beauty of many will be destroyed. 



MOTJNTINa POE THE HEEBAEIUM. 



"When dry, the duplicates may be kept 

 between folded sheets of waste paper, the 

 name of each (or w^hat information may be 

 deemed proper) written at the left-hand bot- 

 tom corner ; when mounted it should be on 

 the stoutest note paper, largest size, and 

 named as the duplicates. 



Very little expense or skill is required in 

 forming a moss herbarium ; the plants being 

 so small, little trouble is involved in mounting 

 them, nor is it absolutely necessary to poison 

 them, as there is little for insects to feed 

 upon. 



At present I have been addressing the 

 amateur botanist, whose chief aim is to have 

 a well-named collection. There may be others, 

 however, whose chief delight is collecting, in- 

 tending, as I before mentioned, to get some 



botanist to name them, or who intend to use 

 them to form devices, or in the manufacture 

 of fancy articles, for which they are most ap- 

 propriate from the many delicate forms in 

 which Nature has fashioned them. Besides 

 this, the species most suitable for ornamental 

 uses are abundant, and may be easily dyed 

 in a great variety of colours. To use mosses 

 for such purposes proceed as follows : — 



COLLECTING FOE FANCY VTOEK. 



Have a large unglazed holland bag, choose 

 the driest weather, collect as many as you 

 require (or as many as you can find) of every 

 species you meet with, put all together into 

 the bag carelessly, rolling up in scraps of 

 paper the Phascums and such as are removed 

 with the dirt. On reaching home, if any are in 

 the slightest degree damp, let them be dried 

 thoroughly before a fire, or by exposure in a 

 warm room. The collections of a day, week, 

 month, or year, may be all packed together 

 in a bag or box provided with partitions to 

 separate certain districts or periods of collect- 

 ing ; they may be so kept for years if neces- 

 sary, and the whole or any portion may be 

 properly dried at any time that may be con- 

 venient. By maceration in boiling water, 

 and pressing in the ordinary way, many will 

 come out of the water in all the freshness and 

 beauty of form they possessed when growing, 

 years after collecting. 



This is a most valuable and important 

 fact for the tourist, as, while travelling, many 

 of the most handsome and delicate species, 

 which are only found in certain localities, 

 may be collected in abundance, which other- 

 wise must be neglected altogether, and a skil- 

 ful botanist would at all times be able to 

 separate a majority of such species. I could 

 in a brief space of time separate 100 British 

 species, allowing any one previously to use 

 their skill in mixing and confusing them. 

 Eeedeeick Y. Beocas. 



