BOOK-IiOTES, TS^EWS, ETC. 135 



sea, extending to the top of the outer cone, apparently due to the 

 rats feeding on the fruit (the " Country Almonds " of Anglo-Indian 

 speech), which, when disturbed, they carried in their mouths up the 

 slopes. 



At the same meeting Miss M. Rathbone exhibited a series of 

 specimens preserved by submitting them to the action of formalin 

 vapour, as shown in the following statement : — Some years ago it 

 occurred to me to try to find some method of preserving plants which 

 would not destroy either their form or colour. I began by trying 

 liquid paraffin, and this at first gave very promising results; but 

 after a time the specimens became mouldy, and, if antiseptics such as 

 salicj^lic acid were added, the colour disappeared. It then occurred to 

 me to try formalin vapour, hoping that in this way the tissues of the 

 plants might be hardened, and at the same time that the colour might be 

 preserved. Unfortunately, as these specimens show, the results have 

 fallen far short of my ideal ! The colour fades after a time, and the 

 stalks and jDetals often become limp. However, in spite of these 

 drawbacks, I think the method may have its uses, as, in plants preserved 

 in this way, the microscopic characters of the tissues and the form 

 of the flower and relationship of its parts are less altered than in dried 

 specimens, whilst for travellers specimens preserved in this way are 

 lighter and more convenient to carry than plants preserved in spirit. 

 I found that it was best to dilute the formalin with water, and the 

 strength I used was one part formalin to one or two parts of water, 

 and possibly an even weaker solution might answer. Cotton-wool 

 soaked in this solution is put at the bottom of the bottle, or it may 

 be tied round the stalks of the plants, enough being used to ensure a 

 damp atmosphere. Of course the bottles or boxes in which the plants 

 are kept ought to be air-tight, and I found that candle-grease dropped 

 over the cork answered very well. These plants were bottled in 1917, 

 as last summer I was moving about and was not able to make any 

 further ex]3eriments. I have also brought a bottle of African Mari- 

 gold in salicj'lic acid and liquid paraffin, bottled in 1912. It was 

 quite the best of my paraffin specimens, most of which are deplorable 

 objects, and I do not think there is much to be said for this method, 

 as it has all the drawbacks of alcohol and none of its advantages. As 

 regards formalin, I might add I have found that a 1/10 solution in 

 water is quite good for freshwater Algse. I have some bottled in 

 1911, in which the chlorophyll body in Spirogyra, which shrivels up 

 so easily with most reagents, still shows quite distinctly. 



At the meeting of the same Society on AjDril 3, a paper, on 

 "An Albino Mutant of Botrytis cinerea, Pers.," illustrated with 

 preparations and lantern-slides, was read by Mr. William Brierley. 

 He stated that the fungus possesses" characteristic black sclerotia, 

 the colouring matter being deposited in the walls of the outer two or 

 three layers of cells. Among the black sclerotia in a pedigree 

 culture a single colourless sclerotium was formed, and on isolation 

 this gave rise to a strain characterized hj colourless sclerotia. Mor- 

 phologically and physiologically the parent and mutant strains are 

 identical, and the only difierence is the lack of colouring matter in 



