22 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



overflowed at high tide. Here one will find an abundance of Crypto- 

 phycece and some Chlorosporecu. Pools, more especially rocky pools, are 

 rich in Chlorosporew and the filamentous Phceosporece. The richest local- 

 ity is just beyond low-water mark, especially at the spring tides. One 

 should carefully scrape old wharves and piers. This is best done at 

 low tide from a boat. A long-handled net with a scraper on one side 

 is the best thing, but any stout net will do. By scraping old wood- 

 work which looks very unpromising one sometimes gets the rarer Calli- 

 thamnia and other delicate algse. A number of interesting species are 

 also to be found growing on eel-grass, which may be reached at low tide 

 by wading, or, better still, by boat. 



For botanical purposes the dredge is not of very great service. One 

 sometimes secures by its means rare species, but, as a rule, a day of 

 dredging is a day wasted. Most algae grow on rocky bottoms where 

 the dredge does not work well, in fact not so well as grappling hooks. 

 The best opportunity for dredging is on a shelly bottom, where several 

 rare species are found. Good specimens are not unfrequently brought 

 up by fishermen on their nets. The different species when coUected should 

 be cleaned of sand and small animals and placed in bottles, each species 

 in a separate bottle. This is absolutely necessary in case of genera like 

 Cladophora and Ectocarpus, which would otherwise be hopelessly en- 

 tangled. The small specimens and those to be kept for microscopic 

 study should be put into alchohol. The coarse species which are merely 

 to be mounted and are not to be studied should be put dry into the pail. 

 Anything to be studied should be kept in plenty of water, or, if not to 

 be studied in a short time, be put immediately into alcohol. It is, how- 

 ever, useless to \mt into alcohol large quantities of sterile specimens of 

 genera, like Cladophora, the species of which are characterized by their 

 branching and not by microscopic structure. Sea- weeds are best mounted 

 in salt water, that is, in this way they are in a more natural condition 

 for after-study, and if one is able to procure plenty of salt water it is 

 best always to mount in it. However, one may be stopping at a dis- 

 tance from the shore, in which case it is possible to make use of fresh 

 water. Besides, if salt water is used continually the driers become 

 saturated with salt, and it is then impossible to prepare specimens in 

 the damp weather so frequent at the sea-shore. As a matter of economy, 

 one had better mount only the finer and most important specimens in 

 salt water and the rest in fresh water. 



The larger sea-weeds, as the rock-weeds and devil's aprons, should be 

 allowed to soak several hours in fresh water before being mounted. 

 They can then be pressed in the same way as flowering plants, and, when 

 dried, mounted on the ordinary herbarium sheets. If a number of large 

 specimens are to be prepared, it is best to hang the plants up as soon as 

 they are gathered and allow them to dry, and they can afterwards be 

 soaked out at leisure in fresh water. The collector should know that 

 there are probably no plants which so quickly spoil driers as the species 



