104 On the Preservation of Objects of Natural History. 



Or— 



Cyanic. Xanthic. White. 



Central America 12 30 8 



Sandwich Islands 12 31 7 



Alashka 26 13 11 



California 25 19 6 



NewGninea 12 23 15 



Hong Kong 13 27 10 



In a practical \dew these colours may be regarded under the 

 three heads of cyanic, xanthic, and white or blanched. The last 

 will be found to bear an unusual proportion in New Guinea, 

 even among its autumn flora, and at a season when the xanthic 

 series is predominant ; and this is also important at Hong Kong, 

 but there the month of the year must be taken into considera- 

 tion. In the high latitude of Alashka, as might be expected, the 

 blanched flowers are numerous, and the cyanic series prevails, 

 though in the midst of summer. In Calilbrnia the superiority 

 of the cyanic series over the xanthic is worthy of remark, consi- 

 dering the time of the year, the brilliancy of the atmosphere, its 

 general di'yness, and the ex]30sed character of the vegetation; and 

 still more, as some limited observations made two degrees to the 

 south give an excess to the xanthic series. In Central America 

 January is a month of the diy season and the xanthic colom-s 

 prevail ; and the same occm-s at the Sandwich islands, notwith- 

 standing the general tameuess of the flowers of theii* flora. 



XII. — On the Preservation of Objects of Natural History for the 

 Microscope. By the Rev. M. J. Berkeley. 



To Richard Taylor, Esq. 



My dear Sir, King's Cliffe, Dec. 28, 1844. 



I HAD an opportunity a few days since of inspecting Mr. Thwaites' 

 collection of Algs at Bristol, and as his mode of preparing the 

 specimens is not perhaps generally kno'^Ti, and as regards utility, 

 is far superior to any other I have seen, I think it may not be 

 disagreeable to some of yom* readers to have a short notice of it 

 in your Journal. The distinguishing pecuharity of the collection 

 is, that the specimens are ready moimted for the microscope, and 

 preserved in a liquid which retains all their characters perfectly, 

 so that at a moment^s notice any species is ready for inspection in 

 as great perfection as when it was first gathered ; and if any un- 

 usual structm'e occur, the portion of the plant may be set up and 

 re-examined at pleasure, a point which was impossible in many 

 cases before. The value of this method will at once be appre- 

 ciated by all practical algologists, who know that scarcely any 



