190 



THE AMERICAN MONTHLY 



[October, 



moved from the dust and smoke 

 of settled localities, it is pearly 

 white, and exceedingly beautiful 

 both to the naked eye and under 

 any power of magnification. Florida 

 moss should be preserved with only 

 very sliglit pressure, just enough to 

 make the threads lie straight. After 

 it has dried in this way, small cut- 

 tings may be mounted in the or- 

 dinary cells for opaque mounting. 

 On the high banks of the lake, 

 and in the adjoining fields may be 

 found the large-leaved and vigorous- 

 growing Calicarpa (6^. Amertcmia), 

 sometimes called the French 

 mulberry, a bush growing some 

 five or six feet in height. The 

 under side of the leaves of this 

 plant are nearly covered with little 

 round, yellow, sessile glands, flat- 

 tened on top and marked oft" into 

 eight or ten sections by ribs like 

 those on a melon. They are in im- 

 mense numbers — something like 

 thirty thousand to the square inch 

 — over half a million on a good 

 sized leaf. Under a light net-work 

 of branching glandular hairs, viewed 

 with a two-thirds objective, these 

 polislied amber-colored disks glisten 

 like a spangle of golden beads. The 

 same kind of glands is found on the 

 leaves of many other shrubs in 

 Florida — the sweet myrtle {Myi'ica 

 cerifera), the low ground blueberry 

 ( Vaccinium tendlum), a certain 

 bush or dwarf hickory {Carya 

 glabra) and some others. These 

 glands have been variously called 

 resin dots, resin glands', and odori- 

 ferous glands. So far as I can judge, 

 however, they are not connected 

 with any resinous or odoriferous 

 secretions. From their almost per- 

 fect resemblance to the terminal 

 bulb of the mushroom glands of 

 the Pinguicula and Drosera, which 

 are known to be absorbing glands, 

 the probability is that these also 

 serve to absorb moisture and am- 



monia from the atmosphere and 

 from rains. Although 1 am free 

 to acknowledge that the position of 

 the glands, being for the most part 

 on the under side of the leaves, 

 militates somewhat against this 

 view of their purpose. 



Great care will have to be taken 

 in pressing and drying vegetable 

 specimens in the moist climate of 

 Florida. The little threads of the 

 mould fungus will be sure to creep 

 over the surface of the leaves, spoil- 

 ing them for microscopical material, 

 if they are not quickly and eifectu- 

 ally dried. For this purpose it is 

 well to have a good supply of the 

 bibulous botanical paper, and to 

 change the specimens every day to 

 fresh sheets for at least four or five 

 days. The sheets after being once 

 used, should be spread out in the sun 

 to dry. A weight of aljout thirty 

 pounds may be used for the pressure. 



The objects heretofore mentioned 

 are all for opaque mounting. Al- 

 most every preparer of slides has 

 his own favorite method for this 

 kind of work. I myself prefer the 

 use of the transparent shellac cells. 

 Clarified shellac is dissolved in al- 

 cohol, and filtered through cotton- 

 wool under a bell-glass, and with 

 the application of heat. The solu- 

 tion is evaporated down until it is 

 so thick that it will only just run — 

 almost a jelly. In this condition it 

 can be put on a slide with a camel's 

 hair brush on the turn-table, and 

 very quickly worked up into a ring 

 with the point of a knife, used first 

 on the inside to make the cell of 

 the size wanted, and then on the 

 outside to turn the cement up into 

 a compact ring. Two or three ap- 

 plications of the cement, with in- 

 tervals of a day or two after each, 

 wdll make cells of sufficient depth 

 for all ordinary specimens. These 

 cells dry quite slowly ; and if arti- 

 ficial heat is used, it must be in- 



