OF MICROSCOPIC OBJECTS. 79 



By patting them into water the arms are rendered, soft and 

 may then be spread in forms best suited to microscopic 

 slides, and thus allowed to dry. They are beautifully 

 delicate in colour, needing no preparation to bleach them. 

 During one morning's walk at Llandudno I procured about 

 three dozen. 



Plants afford an almost inexhaustible treasury for the 

 microscope, and many of them show their beauties best when 

 mounted dry. When any of these are to be mounted, care 

 must be taken that they are thoroughly dry, otherwise the 

 damp will certainly arise in the cell, and injure the object ; 

 and it may here be mentioned that long alter a leaf has 

 every appearance of dryness, the interior is still damp, and 

 no way can be recommended of getting rid of this by any 

 quicker process than that of keeping them in a warm room, 

 as many leaves, &c., are utterly spoiled by using a hot iron 

 or other contrivance. The safest way is to press them 

 gently betwixt blotting-paper, which may be removed and 

 dried at short intervals; and though this may appear a 

 tedious operation, it is a safe one. 



On the surface of leaves, hairs and scales of various and 

 very beautiful forms are found, most of which display their 

 beauties best when removed from the leaf, and used with 

 the polarizer. These will be noticed in another place ; but 

 a portion of the leaf should always be prepared in its natural 

 form, to show the arrangement of the hair or scales upon it; 

 and this must almost invariably be mounted dry when nsed 

 for this purpose. Many of them require very delicate 

 handling. The epidermis, or, as it is by some termed, the 

 cuticle, is the outer skin which lies upon the surface of the 

 leaves and other parts of most plants. This is composed of 

 cells closely connected, often bearing the appearance of a 

 rude network. In many plants, by scraping up the surface 

 of the leaf, a thin coating is detached, which may be torn 

 off by taking hold of it with forceps. The piece may then 

 be washed and floated upon a glass slide, where, on ' dry- 

 ing, it will be firmly fixed, and may usually be mounted 



