i8gi.] Open Letters. 



57 



plants. This supplement is put out to give information as to the plants 

 that have been discovered in Ohio since 1874, and also to call forth 

 additional information preparatory to the publication of a complete 

 revised catalogue. The supplement adds 177 species of Phanerogams. 



Those who are interested in the relation of flowers and insects will 

 welcome the list of books, memoirs, etc., on the fertilization of flowers 

 for the period 1883-9, a continuation of the list published in 1883 by 

 D'Arcy Thompson. 1 Such bibliographies are of great value and Mr. J. 

 MacLeod has placed the workers in this field under obligations. 



OPEN LETTERS. 



Mounting plants. 



The recent excellent note of Theo. Holm on this subject prompts 

 me to say a few words, more especially in regard to mounting grasses. 



In the collection at our college the plants are held to the sheets by 

 means of stout strips of gummed paper, often a quarter of an inch wide, 

 or even more for' securing heavy specimens. It has recently been my 

 privilege to turn over nearly all the grasses in the herbarium of Har- 

 vard University, where they are secured to the sheets by means of 

 glue. If well done, and the plants are not too thick and heavy, and not 

 sent to and fro by mail or express, the glue holds the smaller, thinner 

 specimens very well, but those with heavy culms or rootstocks spring 

 loose in many cases, and then are usually to be "patched up" by pasting 

 on gummed strips. The glue process would tend to prevent theft 

 of small fragments or spikelets of valuable specimens, but it also makes 

 it difficult to turn over or partially over a spikelet or leaf blade or 

 sheath to observe a ligule or other part not mounted right-side out. 

 Quite frequently specimens mounted in this way are considerably dis- 

 figured by surplus glue, and patches of the coarse paper upon which 

 the specimen was placed while the glue was applied are left sticking 

 here and there, like morbid tufts of a peculiar pubescence. For 

 working specimens of grasses and sedges and similar plants, my ex- 

 perience leads me to favor decidedly the method of pasting by means 

 of strips of paper. Happily, there is a rapidly growing tendency among 

 botanists of our country to collect, preserve, and mount specimens 

 which are more complete than those usually put up by the older bot- 

 anists of a generation or two ago. Such collectors as Pringle, whose 

 specimens have found their way into the herbaria of many botanists, 

 have served to stimulate better work. There is another thing which 

 does not yet receive the attention it deserves, viz.: the collecting and 

 preservation of surplus flowers, fruits, seeds, spikelets, etc., loosely 

 placed on most sheets and held by, an envelope or folder. This 

 whole subject with an abundance of illustrations would be an admir- 

 able one for some thorough and neat enthusiast to present to the 

 botanical club of A. A. A. S. or even to the section of biology.— 

 W. J. Beal, Agricultural College, Mich. 



Separately printed from the Botanisch Jaarboek, tweede Jaargang (1890) pp. 

 195-254. 



