30 KRYTHKA. 



storing until the time when it shall be convenient to soak it out 

 and make it ready for incorporation into tlie herbarium. Of 

 course, the details of this process will vary witli reference to the 

 moistness or dryness of the climate. In the case of the former, it 

 may be necessary to employ artificial heat, especially for the thicker 

 and rougher specimens. At least, especial care will be necessary to 

 make the material dry without molding. In the dry climate, on 

 the other hand, especial attention will he necessary to prevent 

 drying too rapidly. The specimens will become too brittle to handle 

 unless they are watched closely, and they must then be moistened 

 before they can be rolled up into a compact mass for transportation. 

 It is not well to soak or even to rinse the specimens in fresh water 

 before or during the process of rough drying, because they become 

 too brittle and are then transported less safely. The little salt left 

 in them in drying, serves to keep them to some extent flexible, and 

 makes it possible to wrap them up and sort them without breaking 

 them. Specimens prepared in this way and thoroughly and more 

 or less rapidly dried, at least dried without having the opportunity 

 to either rot or mold, may be soaked out in either fresh or salt 

 water, according to the particular species, and will be found to be in 

 excellent condition for ordinary study or for mounting upon paper 

 for preservation in the herbarium. It is best to treat all large 

 specimens, such as Kelps, Rockweeds, Gigartinas, etc., in this way, 

 since if they are placed in press at once, they Avill be slow in drying 

 until they are dead and are very liable to become moldy, while if 

 they are allowed to die in the open air, the water absorbed in 

 soaking them out will be very quickly given up in the press. The 

 writer has found it to be the only really successful method for 

 large kelps. 



Salting. — The use of salt to preserve specimens from the time 

 of collecting until such time as they can be studied has been in 

 use especially among the Scandinavian collectors. Large species 

 as well as extensive collections may be packed away in casks, but 

 finer species, such as can not readily be dried, and even smaller 

 collections, may be packed away in glass jars of larger or smaller 

 size. Especially may delicate filamentous species, such as Calli- 

 thamnions, Dasyas, Cladophoras, etc., be treated in this way, when 

 there is no opportunity for mounting them at once on paper or 



