184 BOTANICAL GAZETTE. | July, 
“198. Dicranum congestum. High sandy hills; Boyne Falls, July 30. (Hills 
southeast of the village, 325 feet above Lake Michigan.) On the ground; 
loosely cxspitose.” 
Boyne Falls is in Michigan, and Mich. is placed after the name in connec- 
tion with the first plant collected there. , 
At the time of placing a plant in the drying papers a card is put with it, 
corresponding to the number in the note book as “198. 78. Dicranum con- 
gestum.” The latter number gives the year. This card is kept with the spec- 
imen till mounted. When mounted, by turning to the corresponding number 
in the diary, any particulars needed for the label may be found. When a 
page of the botany used in identifying, using the last two numbers of the year 
in which it is collected. Opening my copy of Gray’s Manual to Hippuris 
vulgaris, on the margin are found three numbers, “78, 80, 83.” If any infor- 
specimen itself is not needed. The number on the margin serves also as a 
record or check list of plants, so that it may not be repeatedly gathered, unless 
special reasons exist for it. 
Note books kept in this way become very useful in the study of geographi- 
cal distribution. It is an exact record, easy of access. The system is a kind 
of botanical book keeping, as useful and accurate in its way as that of the 
accountant.—E. J. Hrxu. 
n ement, or set in position in a plaster of 
Paris base. Better leave considerable shale with a good impression than run 
the risk of breaking it by trimming. 
In shaping, a meat saw can be used to good advantage on fragile shales 
free from nodules. A pair of pincers is useful, also a wooden clamp to prevent 
forcing while trimming with a hammer. Shale from the coal measures of Ar- 
kansas, if dried either in the sun or shade without being exposed to rain, will 
