18 BRITISH FERNS. 



our native species, except in cases of extreme luxuriance, 

 may, we believe, with a little judgment in the selection of 

 specimens, be folded so as to allow of their being preserved 

 in ordinary folios measuring eighteen inches by twelve 

 inches, or thereabouts. 



It is sometimes recommended to select specimens with the 

 fructifications mature. We should rather, as a general rule, 

 advise their being gathered just before the masses of spores 

 reach their full growth. If, however, more than a single 

 specimen of each kind is preserved, the perfectly mature and 

 the incipient states of fructification should also be gathered : 

 but in the majority of cases the intermediate state will afford 

 the best materials for subsequent examination and recogni- 

 tion. Certainly the fructification is to be preferred in an 

 early rather than a late stage of development. 



Of course, when the species produces two or more kinds 

 of fronds, examples of each must be preserved, as, for in- 

 stance, in the Allosorus crispus, the fertile fronds of which 

 alone would convey but a very indifferent notion of the 

 plant. 



After being thoroughly dried under pressure, the speci- 

 mens, according to their size, should be arranged, singly if 

 large, or in groups resembling the natural tufts if sufficiently 

 small, on one side only of a series of sheets (technically 

 half-sheets, i.e., single leaves) of stout white paper, to which 

 they should be fastened by a few thread ties, or gummed 

 straps, or they may be fastened down with glue. The speci- 

 mens, no doubt, admit of a much more convenient and 

 searching examination when kept loose in a folded sheet of 

 paper ; but if there should be frequent occasion to handle 

 such loose specimens, they will be found much more liable 

 to become injured and broken than such as are fastened to 

 the paper. 



The specimens should be fully labelled, the labels giving 

 at least their names, the locality where gathered, and the 

 date; and the labels should be fixed so as to be readily 

 referred to by turning up one of the corners of the sheets of 

 paper. 



The papers to which the specimens are affixed are to be 

 enclosed in paper covers, formed of whole sheets, i.e.,^ two 

 leaves, each genus being put in a separate cover. These 

 covers should be placed either on the shelves of a cabinet, 

 or in drawers, or in any convenient place where they may 

 be protected from dust, and Preserved against the attacks of 

 insects and other casualties 



