VOL. XI, NO. 6.—BOTANICAL GAZETTE.—JUNE, 1886. 
Specimens and Specimen Making. 
MESSRS. J. D. SMITH, MARTINDALE, CHICKERING, BESSEY, CHAP- 
MAN, CRATTY, DAVIS, JOHNSON, C. E, SMITH, AND M’CARTHY. 
In arranging the material under this head it has been neces- 
sary to omit a part of some of the articles in order to prevent un- 
hecessary repetition, an unavoidable contingency when the same 
subject is treated independently by several writers, but no other 
material changes have been made.—Ep1Tors. 
Comparing old herbarium material with that of recent distribution, one is 
struck with the fact that the art of specimen making has of late years, and par- 
ticularly in this country, reached a degree of perfection never aimed at by the 
collectors of former days. The present herbarium sheet permits a fullness of 
representation that was not practicable on the foolscap pages of Linnzus; and 
accordingly we must now give the whole plant if possible, or as much of it as can 
conveniently be doubled up within the space of 163 by 11} inches. The ideal 
Specimen presents all possible material requisite for its critical determination 
fruits. But in such cases, and in many others too, the flowers detached from 
their peduncles should be dried separately, and should have the benefit of 
the collector’s utmost skill preeparationis conservatricis opere. Envelopes of very 
bibulous paper, cotton pads, heated driers, and pressure graduated according to 
Wilting, will serve as an embalming process, preserving every structure and or- 
gan, from petal to embryo, uninjured, and ready to live again at the demand 
of the student and the touch of hot water. Such objects ought not, like the 
them, a complete specimen of an arboreous plant will include bark and wood- 
sections, 
Methods that hurry the drying out of plants in press are valuable to the 
traveling collector. With that view let him use latticework frames to separate 
than 18 by 12 inches are needed. spribtsy, 
Although the numbering of distributions is now very general, still, it is not 
