THE PLANT WOKLD 113 



ferred to another dish containing clear water and deposited in a patch 

 in the water near the edge of the dish. By repeating the rocking pro- 

 cess the fixative is washed away, and by a little skill in the rocking, 

 any foreign matter not previously removed can be separated from the 

 desmids. The desmids are transferred to a fresh dish of clean water 

 by again using the pen-filler, and a repetition of the process removes 

 all residual traces of the fixative. — G. H. Bryan in Jomiial of Applied 

 Microscopy for October, 1900. 



Aspect of the New Zealand Flora. 



Mr. Frank G. Carpenter, in an interesting article descriptive of 

 New Zealand, published in the Washington Evening Star, has this to 

 say concerning the flora of that country: 



" I have spoken of New Zealand as an evergreen land. It is so. 

 it has the same green you see in England and Ireland. The fences 

 about the houses are often hedges cut in curious shapes and of a var- 

 nished green. The leaves are on most of the trees all the year round. 

 There are many varieties of green plants, such as the holly. There are 

 scrub palms, and the New Zealand palm lilj^ is to be seen everywhere. 

 This is a tree which reaches a height of twenty feet. It goes straight 

 up \vithout a branch to the top, where it blossoms out in green tassels 

 like a palm. The people call it the cabbage tree. 



" And then the ferns! New Zealand has enough to establish fern- 

 eries for all creation. You find places where there are acres of them, 

 miles of them. Some of the deep glens and gorges are walled with 

 them. They are of all kinds, some great trees and others as fine as 

 a maiden's hair. There is one fern which is used by the natives for 

 bedding, and another which is half fern, half vine. It climbs the loft- 

 iest tree, coiling its wire-like stems about the branches. The stems are 

 tough enough for ropes. They maintain their coil after being pulled 

 off, and it is said that some of the people have used them for making 

 spring mattresses. Think of sleeping on fern beds, upon fern springs, 

 and you have one of the possibilities of New Zealand! " 



