PRESERVATION OF MOIST SPECIMENS AND SEEDS. 621 



removed, and these parts are dried so as to give the form. Travellers visiting 

 foreign countries (although not botanists) will find it an easy matter to preserve 

 Mosses, Lichens, and Sea-weeds in a state fit for after-examination. In the case 

 of Sea-weeds, it is necessary to avoid such specimens as are in a state of decay. 

 Those which are taken should be spread oat in the shade to dry, without wash- 

 ing them with fresh water, and when quite dry, packed loosely in a box. Many 

 species are found thrown upon the beach, and the pools in the rocks at low water 

 are often filled with excellent specimens. The stems of the larger Alga? are often 

 covered with parasitic species, which should be dried without separation. 



1208. When the specimens (whether Phanerogamous or Cryptogamous) are 

 fully dried, they are then selected for the herbarium, and are fastened upon fine 

 stiff paper, 17 inches by 10^. In large herbaria, which are constantly con- 

 sulted, the best way of securing the specimens is by means of fine thin glue : 

 the plants, after the glue is put on them, being made to adhere to the paper, by 

 pressure between folds of drying paper. Some use gummed paper, others use 

 thread or narrow ribbon, by means of which the specimens are sewed to the 

 paper. In herbarium-presses, camphor is employed to prevent the attacks of 

 insects. The specimens must be kept dry, frequently examined, and when 

 insects are present they may be touched with an alcoholic solution of corrosive 

 sublimate. 



1209. Specimens in a moist state. In preserving fresh specimens of 

 fruits, and the other parts of plants, the best mode is to put them into a satu- 

 rated solution of salt and water. They can thus be sent home from foreign 

 countries in jars or barrels. In making a museum of such specimens, they 

 are put into glass jars, the sizes of which should be regular 1, 8, 12, and 16 

 inches high, with a diameter varying according to the size of the specimen. 

 The glasses may be filled with the following solution, which is nearly the same 

 as that used by Goadby, and which seems to answer well in most instances : 



Bay salt, 4 ounces. 



Burnt alum, 2 ounces. 



Corrosive sublimate, 20 grains. 



Boiling water, 2 quarts. 



Dissolve and filter the solution. Spirit is often used, but it usually makes all 

 colours alike brown. It is useful for delicate specimens which are required for 

 dissection. Diluted acetic acid may be employed in some cases. The mouth of 

 the glass jars may be conveniently covered with Indian rubber, or in the case of 

 glasses of small diameter, with a watch glass secured by sealing wax. 



1210. Seeds, when sent from abroad, should be collected perfectly ripe and 

 dry, and if possible kept in their entire seed-vessels. Small seeds may be folded 

 in cartridge paper, and should be kept in a cool and airy place during transport. 

 Large seeds and oily seeds, which lose their germinating power speedily, are 

 best transported in earth. A box about 10 inches square, with the sides f of 

 an inch thick, answers well. In this may be put alternate layers of earth and 

 seeds, the whole being pressed firmly together. Living plants are best trans- 

 ported in Wardian cases (H 297), and seeds or fruits may also be scattered in 

 the earth of the cases. Bulbs and rhizomes not in a state of vegetation, cuttings 

 of succulent plants, as aloes and cactuses, and the pseudo-bulbs of Orchideous 

 plants, may be put into a box or barrel with dry moss, sand, peat, or sawdust. 



