THE MUSEUM. 



149 



loose, they are not only in danger of 

 being broken or damaged, but of be- 

 ing misplaced or dissevered from the 

 label which belongs to them. If 

 wholly glued down they cannot under 

 many circumstances be removed from 

 t he paper, either to be transferred to 

 other paper, or for closer e.xamination 

 ir comparison. 



Each specimen having been mount- 

 ed, the label which accompanies it 

 should be fastened down beside it. 

 This may be pasted, {'"inally its gen- 

 eric and specitic name should be writ- 

 ten legibly at the lower /•/>/'/-hand 

 orner. All the specimens belonging 

 to one genus should then be collected 

 together, and placed between the 

 folds of a sheet of paper half an inch 

 wider and longer, when folded, than 

 the half-sheets upon which the speci- 

 mens are mounted. These "genera 

 covers" may be of the same paper, or 

 I smooth brown paper may be em- 

 ployed for the purpose. On the out- 

 side of the "genera covers" at the low- 

 er AyV-hand corner, the name of the 

 genus should be written in a good 

 hold hand. The whole may be trans- 

 ferred to a deal box, the front of which 

 is movable as well as the lid, being 

 hinged to the bottom, so as to fall 

 down and lie flat on the table. The 

 lid may be so contrived as to hold the 

 front in its place when closed. A deal 

 box 9 inches deep, 13 inches wide and 

 20 inches long will hold a good col- 

 lection, and if this ever should prove 

 too small for the number of specimens 

 obtained, a second box of the same 

 ilimensions will remedy the evil. The 

 order of succession in which the gen- 

 era are placed in the box may be tak- 

 en from this volume, which will then 

 serve as an index for the herbarium. 



If it is considered desirable, a little 

 camphor may be kept with the speci- 

 mens, but the best preservative will 

 be to look them all over, and thus al- 

 low the air to have access to them, 

 once in every six months. With such 

 precautions a collection may be pre- 

 served uninjured for years, provided 



always that it is kept in a dry place 

 — not moderately but tlioroiiglily dry 

 — or "mould" may injure irremediably 

 what insects have spared. 



A neat little collection of ferns, of 

 smaller pretensions, and less claims, 

 to be regarded in a scientific light, 

 may be arranged in a kind of album 

 or scrapbook, with "guards" intro- 

 duced by the binder sufficient to com- 

 pensate for the extra thickness caused 

 by the insertion of the specimens. A 

 tinted paper is often used in the man- 

 ufacture of these books, which the 

 good taste of a lady may transform 

 into a very interesting volume for the 

 drawing-room table. — Frxnn Cooke's 

 "Fern Book for F.vcrybodf."' ' 



The Late Baron Sir Ferdinand 

 Von Mueller, K. C. M-, F. R. S. 

 Etc., Government Botan- 

 ist of Victoria. 



Scientists throughout the world, but more 

 especially the deceased's numerous personal 

 friends, will bo pleased to hear that his exe- 

 cutors (Re\ . W. Potter, Dr. Alex. Buttner 

 and H. Huttner, Esq.) are— in compliance 

 with the Baron's dying wish — now collecting 

 donations for the erecting upon his grave in 

 the St. Kilda cemetery, Melbourne, of a mon- 

 ument worthy of the deceased savanVi fame. 

 The monument is of grey granite, 23ft. in 

 height, all highly polished, and will stand in 

 the centre of a grave-plot 12ft. square, plant- 

 ed out with choice specimens of the Austral- 

 ian flora, with which the Baron's name has 

 become imperishably linked. They also will 

 be glad to know that the illustrious phytolo- 

 gist's supplemental volume of the Flora Aus- 

 Irnliensis, upon which he had worked for 

 years, and was preparing for the Pres.s at the 

 time of his death, is to be published, together 

 with two volumes on his administration as 

 director of the Botanical Gardens, Melbourne, 

 and embracing a biography and complete 

 bibliograph of his writings. The executors 

 will feel favored by the loan of any of his let- 

 ters, or the communication of incidents in 

 the Baron's life which friends may deem 

 worthy of notice in the biography Dona- 

 tions and letters should be addressed— "Rev. 

 W. Potter, •Vonmueller,' Arnold street, South 

 Yarra, Melbourne. Australia." 



