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dredge. The collector should have a basket to bring home the 

 firmer kinds, and a few wide- mouthed {pickle) bottles for the 

 more delicate and gelatinous ; for these latter should not be ex- 

 posed to the air, and if possible should be kept cool and in salt 

 water. Where a boat is used, the ordinary ship's-buckets, filled 

 with salt-water, make excellent collecting utensils. When brought 

 home, if the number of specimens be large, they should be as- 

 sorted into two classes ; one containing those which are of firm 

 consistence, the other the membranous and filamentous kinds. 

 The former may be set aside, in tubs or basins of/re^-water, to 

 steep for some hours previous to being dried. The latter must 

 be kept, not too much crowded, in vessels of salt-water, and only 

 plunged for a few seconds or minutes (according to the nature of 

 the plant) into fresh-water, before being placed on paper. No 

 time must unnecessarily be lost in preparing the more delicate 

 Algae for drying, as many of them, if left for a few boms, even 

 in salt-water, will completely decompose and become worthless. 

 The collector should be provided with two or three large flat 

 dishes, or deep plates, to float the specimens after they have been 

 washed and pruned, and one or two shallower plates or smaller 

 dishes. One of the large dishes should be filled with sea-water, 

 and in it the stock of specimens first to be prepared may be kept 

 ready. The other two dishes are to be filled with fresh-water. 

 A specimen, taken from the stock, is then introduced into one of 

 the dishes of fresh-water, washed to get rid of mud, sand, or 

 parasites, and pruned, or divided into several pieces, if the 

 branches be too dense, or the plant too much tufted to allow of 

 being properly displayed on paper. The washed and pruned 

 specimens are next to be floated in the second dish, until several 

 are ready. They are then removed, one at a time, into one of 

 the shallow plates, which must be kept full of clean fresh-water. 

 Here the specimen is floated and made to expand fully. Next, 

 a piece of white paper of suitable size is introduced into the 

 plate, under the expanded specimen. The paper then, with the 

 specimen properly displayed upon it, is cautiously brought to the 



