282 Professor Owen on Collecting 



reimmersion. "With respect to the delicate algse, — " The collector 

 should have two or three flat dishes, one of which is to be filled with 

 salt water and two with fresh ; in the first of these the specimens 

 are to be rinsed and pruned, to get rid of any diit or parasites, or 

 other extraneous matter ; they are then to be floated in one of the 

 dishes of fresh water for a few minutes, care being taken not to 

 leave them too long in this medium, and then one by one removed 

 to the third dish, and a piece of white paper, of the size suited to 

 that of each specimen, is to be introduced underneath it. The paper 

 is to be carefully brought to the surface of the water, the specimen 

 remaining displayed upon it, with the help of a pair of forceps or a 

 porcupine's quill, or any fine-pointed instrument ; and it is then to 

 be gently drawn out of the water, keeping the specimen displayed. 

 These wet papers, with their specimens, are then placed between 

 sheets of soft soaking-paper, and put under pressure, and in most 

 cases the specimen adheres in drying to the paper on which it is laid 

 out. Care must be taken to prevent the bloating-paper sticking to 

 the specimens, and destroying them. Frequent changes of drying- 

 paper (once in six hours), and cotton rags laid over the specimens, 

 are the best preservatives. The collector should have at hand four 

 or five dozen pieces of unglazed thin calico (such as sells for 2d, or 

 3d. per yard^', each piece about eighteen inches long and twelve 

 inches wide, one of which, with two or three sheets of paper, should 

 be laid over every sheet of specimens as it is put in the press. These 

 cloths are only required in the fii-st two or three changes of drying- 

 papers ; for, once the specimen has begun to dry, it will adhere to 

 the paper on which it has been floated in preference to the blotting- 

 paper laid over it."* 



For dried specimens of corallines, corals, and sponges, it is advisable 

 to soak the specimen for a time in fresh water before drying. They 

 may then be packed among the rough-dried sea-weeds, in boxes ; but 

 the more delicate specimens should be placed in separate chip-boxes 

 with cotton. 



With regard to corals, &c., it must be remembered that dried spe- 

 cimens are but the skeletons of those animals, and that only the 

 " horny and " calcareous" species can be so preserved. The 

 " fleshy" kinds, commonly known as " polypes," " sea-anemones," 

 or " animal-flowers," must be pi'eserved entire in alcohol or saline 

 solution, and of the latter the following (No. 1 of Goadby's recipes) 

 has been found successful : — 



Solution, No, 1. 



Bay salt, . . . , 4 oz. 



Alum, . . . . . 2 oz. 



Corrosive sublimate, . . .2 grains. 



Rain water, . . . .1 quart. 



* Dr Harvey, in Afr Ball's lleport on the Dublin University Magnzine, p. 3. 



