126 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



plains, alpine and sub-alpine heights, damp forests, and fern-tree 

 gullies are characteristic of the colony ; there is, therefore, every 

 inducement to make a closer acquaintance with such delightful 

 forms. A necessary equipment for such excursions consists of a 

 good pocket lens, a large knife, capacious pockets, a piece of 

 carpet or oilcloth, and some papers cut in squares to wrap each 

 specimen in. 



It is well to remember that a tuft of moss without fruit is 

 teasing and vexatious, and a very small specimen in fruit is 

 almost as bad ; a medley specimen is worse than either. Good- 

 sized specimens in fruit, and of one species only, should be 

 sought for, and they are usually abundant. When a fair specimen 

 has been secured, it should be folded up in paper and pocketed. 

 Medley specimens look beautiful, and are beautiful, consisting as 

 they do of a tuft of low-growing mosses of various species, with 

 brilliant hepatics creeping over them, and perhaps here and there 

 a crimson-fruited or sulphur-coloured lichen thallus ; they are 

 attractive on the pages of an album, but as botanical specimens 

 they are useless, and it is quite as easy to collect one specimen in 

 each tuft. 



On returning from a moss-hunt, each specimen should be 

 washed under the tap, if necessary, and then placed between 

 sheets of blotting-paper, and changed every day for two or three 

 days ; they will then be ready to packet and label with locality, 

 date, &c. It is a good plan to make two or three packets of 

 each species, bearing the same number, so that, if difficulty is 

 found in identification, a packet may be sent for examination, and, 

 after identification, the name and number will be returned, the 

 packet being retained by the identifier. 



Mounting for Microscope. — i. Pick out a few perfect plants 

 and wash them well in a saucer, so as to free the rootlets from all 

 earthy matter. This may be expedited by shaking the plants in 

 water in a wide-necked bottle. Then place them in a white saucer 

 and lay them aside. 



2. Clean some % in., ^ in., or 7/% in. covering glasses and glass 

 slips, and with a self-centreing turntable and common pen and ink 

 make an ink circle on one side of each slip. This will be a guide 

 for arranging the mosses and for placing the cover on ; also, the 

 ringing with asphalt will be done much easier than when the 

 cover is put on by guesswork. Incline the slips with the inked 

 circle downwards always. 



3. Place equal parts of pure glycerine and water in a boiling 

 tube and shake well. Pick out the cleaned moss-plants, with all 

 the lids and calyptras that may have been separated, and put them 

 in the glycerine and water and hold them over an ordinary 

 paraffin lamp and boil them until the plants sink to the bottom 

 of the boiling tube a moment after they are taken away from the 



