ON COLLECTING LINEAR-LEAYED AQUATICS 261 



paper under the surface and see that it is entirely submerged — select 

 one complete plant and place it upon the paper, both being sub- 

 merged. With a pair of fine-pointed steel forceps coax the leaves 

 and branches to assume a natural position-^with leaves and fruits 

 well displayed. (The forceps are useful in detaching caddis-cases, 

 dirt or other foreign matter.) Then with the right hand take hold 

 of the bottom of the paper and gradually raise it out of the water, 

 when the root will adhere to the paper. Now take hold of the top of 

 the paper with the left hand and very slowly raise the whole sheet — 

 as a slightly inclined plane — out of the water, which will thus run off 

 at the top and leave the whole plant adhering to the paper. Care is 

 required, as the water finally escapes, to prevent the linear leaves 

 'from running together and spoiling the effect, but a little practice 

 and patience will soon overcora'e this difficulty. 



"Drying. Dry paper and plant together in the press. The best 

 results are obtained by putting blotting-paper directly over each 

 plant, whatever other paper is used in addition. Change the paper 

 after two or three days. Great care is required in changing — the 

 blotting-paper should be lifted slowly from the root to the apex of 

 the plant, and not in the opposite direction. When the whole plant 

 is exposed, straighten out any folded leaves, re-cover with dry paper, 

 and change again in a week. After that the plants may be left for a 

 much longer period. When the plants and their paper-mounts are 

 stone-dry (test with the back of the hand) they should be enclosed in 

 folded covers of thin paper, and thus protected they keep indefinitely 

 and can be readily examined. On no account should gum or other 

 adhesive be used for mounting — water and adequate pressure are 

 amply sufficient." 



ELISIA— AN OVERLOOKED GENUS-NAME. 



Br A. B. Rendle, D.Sc, F.R.S. 



Mr. C. D. Sherborn has kindly drawn my attention to vol. iii. 

 of the New Orleans Medical Sf Surgical Journal (1847), the March 

 number of which contains (pp. 614-16) a paper of botanical interest 

 (no. vii) entitled " Description of a New Genus of the Family of 

 Soknacese, with Remarks on its Characters and Properties." The 

 paper is signed Milano, which is probably a pseudonym, as no author's 

 name is given in the list of original communications at the beginning 

 of the number, nor in the index at the end of the volume. Mr. Sher- 

 born tells me that copies of this American Journal are rare in this 

 country ; the volume in question had been lent by the Manchester 

 Medical Society. At any rate Milano's genus seems hitherto to have 

 escaped the attention of botanists ; it does not occur in the Index 

 Kewensis, and is not quoted by Dr. W. E. Safford in his recent 

 Synopsis of the genus Datura (Journ. Washington Acad. Sci. xi. 173, 

 April 1921). It may therefore be worth while to reproduce the 

 more important part of the publication, especially as one or more 

 of the trivial names may have to be seriously considered by the mono- 

 grapher : — 



