HINTS ON COLLECTING AND MOUNTING OAK GALLS. 45 



A few experiments with fluids as preservatives sliow 

 that methylated spirit or even pure alcohol is of no 

 value as they extract all colours. Pure glycerine, or 

 a mixture of equal parts of glycerine and water, is of 

 little value. Solutions of corrosive sublimate, and also 

 of formalin, are not successful mediums, for in many 

 cases the leaf, the stem, or the gall itself loses more or 

 less of the natural colours, and then the true value of 

 the gall is deficient. 



There is, perhaps, no better record of the natural 

 appearance of the galls than an accurately coloured 

 drawing, or a photograph as near to, or the actual size 

 of the specimens it represents. 



Fig. 1. — A pair of nippers. Fig. 2. — A primer 



-A fern-trowel. 



