410 A. EARLAND ON FORAMINIFERA. 



required consists of a retort stand to hold the sieves, a photo- 

 graphic developing dish, or a tin dish with a lip, some sieves, and 

 a tall glass jar without a neck. I myself use one of those long 

 glass jars sold for egg beaters (the " Lightning " Egg Beater, 

 Grafton's patent), and find it answers admirably. The sieves are 

 made of sheet copper, 4 inches high and 4 inches across at the top. 

 The bottom is smaller, being only 3 inches in diameter, and a piece 

 of brass wire gauze is soldered across it. The gauze can be 

 obtained of various meshes, but the gauze 120 meshes to the inch 

 is the finest easily procurable, and is quite sufficient for ordinary 

 material. The size of the opening in this gauze is about ^ho ^ ncn 

 square, and as a rule nothing but immature or broken tests will 

 pass through it. At the same time I make a practice of examin- 

 ing what passes through before throwing it away, and if necessary 

 I wash it again on a special sieve made of the 120-mesh gauze, 

 thickly plated with silver to diminish the size of the holes. 

 Silk gauze made for the use of millers can be bought having 

 200 meshes to the inch, but I have never tried it, as it is very 

 expensive, and I find the plated sieve answers my purpose. 



Besides the sieve of 120 meshes it is advisable to have a few 

 others of larger aperture, although this may depend upon the 

 purse of the collector. I have found the most useful sizes to be 

 80 and 40 meshes to the inch, with two larger sieves of 12 and 

 20 meshes, chiefly useful for removing stones and foreign debris 

 from gatherings. It is also advisable to have a copper sieve 

 made without a bottom, as muslin of different degrees of fineness 

 can then be stretched across it by means of a rubber band, and 

 it makes a very handy utensil for sifting the dried material into 

 different grades. 



To wash the material, whether it is shore sand or dredgings, 

 put a few spoonfuls in the 120 sieve, and let a gentle stream of 

 water run through it until all sand and mud has been washed 

 away, and the water passes clear. If the sieve gets clogged, as 

 it soon will if there is much mud in the gathering, it should be 

 dipped up and down in a basin of water until the meshes char. 

 All circular motion of the sieve must be avoided, as the slender 

 forams will get entangled in the meshes and be broken. Be 

 careful that the water in the sieve does not overflow, or you will 

 lose the floatings which have risen to the top, and which generally 

 include the finest specimens. After the material has been 



