AND PRESERVING PLANTS. 



129 



marks, and for the same reason a knife for scraping off specimens 

 should not be carried, A stout stick with a chisel end is most 

 convenient, and a cotton bag in a landing-net ring at the other end 

 of it is useful in recovering detached floating specimens. Wading- 

 boots are of great advantage ; but where there are deep pools, the risk 

 attending immersion is to be reckoned with. Good specimens from 

 beyond low-water mark are to be obtained after a gale, 

 though many of them are damaged. For dredging, 

 especially from a rowing-boat, Reinke's dredge is the 

 best (see fig. 1). 



To obtain the microscopic floating plant-life of the 

 sea and of fresh-waters (Phyto-plankton) a tow-net of 

 the ordinary pattern, made of No. 20 Miller's silk (to 

 be purchased from Emil Eiechter, 69, Hartington Koad, 

 Liverpool), may be used at any depth from a boat or 

 ship going with little more than steerage way. Surface 

 organisms at sea may be got in excellent condition by 

 pumping with the deck-hose through such a tow-net 

 suspended from a boat-davit, or in less abundance by 

 running the bath-tap through a silk bag for a few 

 hours. To those who employ this method indiarnbber 

 hose is to be recommended in preference to canvas or 

 leather hose, on account of impurities discharged fi-om 

 both. 



In preparing sea-weed for the herbarium, great care 

 must be taken in spreading each specimen with a small 

 camel's-hair brush on a paper mount inserted below it 

 while floating in a basin. The specimen should then 

 be dried in the ordinary way ; but a layer of muslin 

 should be placed over the sheets of specimens to prevent 

 their adhering to the upper sheet of drying-paper. 



In preserving minute Phyto-plankton, marine Dia- 

 toms, and the like, a fluid preparation is best.* Either fig. 2. 



Fig. 1. 



* The contents in the tail of the tow-net should be emptied into a funnel with 

 a stop-cock (see fig. 2), and withdrawn below after settling ; failing this, by 

 settling and decanting, or by picking up with a dipping-tube. 



