650 



Clifton. The district to be examined will comprise a circumference of 

 five miles, and will also be illustrated with a map, and geological 

 remarks. It is not to be published before May next. 



Drying Succulent Plants. 



The President read the following valuable observations,, from Mr. J. 

 T. Syme, on this subject, dated June 28, 1852 : — 



It is now rather late to reply to Mr. Bladon's query as to the best 

 way of drying succulent plants ; but this season I have tried a new 

 plan, which I find has several advantages over those generally fol- 

 lowed. Instead of destroying the vitality of the specimens by heat, 

 I tried the effect of poison, and used for this a solution of corrosive 

 sublimate in wood naphtha, applied to the'jleaves by a large brush. I 

 found it answer the purpose, and preserve the colour as well as the 

 application of boiling water, except in the case of Ophrys apifera and 

 O. muscifera, which turned quite black ; but Orchis fusca, Aceras an- 

 thropophora, Cephalanthera grandiflora, Habenaria bifolia, Leucojura 

 aeslivum, Centranthus ruber, Beta maritima, and various succulent 

 fruits — e. g., Daphne Laureola — poisoned, look as well as specimens 

 immersed in boiling water at the same time, and treated in the same 

 way afterwards. The new method has the following advantages over 

 the old : — 



1st. It is much more easily applied to the parts that require it. It 

 is easy to touch any part of a specimen that is not drying rapidly 

 enough after it has been under pressure for some time. This is im- 

 portant, for both methods destroy the colour of the flowers if applied 

 to them ; but in leaving out the flowers, on the boiling-water plan, 

 the upper part of the stem and germens are not killed, and often spoil 

 the appearance of the specimen. 



2nd. There is no diflSculty vvith plants tried for the first time, as in 

 the ordinary way, for each plant requires a certain temperature and 

 lime of immersion. If the heat be too great the leaves are blistered ; 

 if too little, or the time not long enough, the plant is not killed. 



3rd. The plant is much more easily laid out when fresh, and then 

 washed over with the solution. It requires a good deal of trouble to 

 properly lay out the leaves of a boiled specimen, as they become so 

 flaccid. 



4lh. The specimen is not saturated with moisture, and so is much 

 sooner dried after the new than the old treatment. 



5tli. The plant is secure from the attacks of insects, as far as corro- 

 sive sublimate can make it. 



