OF MICROSCOPIC OBJECTS. 79 
By putting them into water the arms are rendered, soft and 
may then be spread in forms best suited to microscopic 
slides, and thus allowed to dry.. They are beautifully 
delicate in coléur, needing no preparation to bleach them. 
During one morning’s walk at Llandudno I procured about 
three dozen. 
Plants afford an almost inexhaustible treasury for the 
microscope, and many of them show their beauties best when 
mounted dry. When any of these are to be mounted, care 
must be taken that they are thoroughly dry, otherwise the 
damp will certainly arise in the cell, and injure the object: 
and it may here be mentioned that long after a leaf has 
every appearance of dryness, the interior is still damp, and 
no way can be recommended of getting rid of this by any 
quicker process than that of keeping them in a warm room, 
as many leaves, &c., are utterly spoiled by using a hot iron 
or other contrivance. The safest way is to press them 
gently betwixt blotting-paper, which may be removed and 
dried at short intervals; and though this may appear a 
tedious operation, it is a safe one. 
On the surface of leaves, hairs and scales of various and 
very beautiful forms are found, most of which display their 
beauties best when removed from the leaf, and used with 
the polarizer. These will be noticed in another place; but 
a portion of the leaf should always be prepared in its natural 
form, to show the arrangement of the hair or scales upon it; 
and this must almost invariably be mounted dry when used 
for this purpose. Many of them require very delicate 
handling. The epidermis, or, as it is by some termed, the 
cuticle, is the outer skin which lies upon the surface of the 
leaves and other parts of most plants. This is composed of 
cells closely connected, often bearing the appearance of a 
rude network. In many plants, by scraping up the surface 
of the leaf, a thin coating is detached, which may be torn 
off by taking hold of it with forceps. The piece may then 
be washed and floated upon a glass slide, where, on dry- 
ing, it will be firmly fixed, and may usually be mounted 
