1897] BRIEFER ARTICLES 373 
A METHOD OF PRESERVING ALG. 
ALG for demonstration purposes may be preserved without trace 
of shrinkage and mounted for permanent use in the following manner: 
Kill and fix in Flemming’s weaker formula (10 1 per cent. osmic acid ; 
Io“ £ per cent. acetic acid; 25° 1 per cent.chromic acid; 55° distilled 
water). This may be used from one-half hour to twenty-four hours or 
more without injury to delicate tissues. Next drop ro per cent. glycer- 
ine directly into the fixative. Be careful to allow each drop to diffuse 
before adding more. This guards against shrinkage which is caused 
by diffusion currents if glycerine is added too rapidly. Continue 
adding drop by drop until enough glycerine has been put in to cover 
the specimens when evaporated. The fixative and water should now 
be allowed to evaporate in a watch glass where a large surface is 
exposed. The specimens may now be handled with a needle or knife 
and arranged on the slide under a dissecting microscope. A drop of 
pure glycerine or of glycerine jelly makes a very satisfactory mount. 
Glycerine jelly has to be used very carefully, but it is the more satis- 
tory when it can be used with success. Filamentous forms should 
be cut while fresh into pieces of convenient length for handling. 
This glycerine method is extremely convenient for preserving fruit- 
ing forms, for demonstration of swarm spore and zygospore formation. 
The more delicate stages may be fixed and mounted on the slide so 
that they need only be handled once. The method was devised and 
thoroughly tested in the laboratory of Lake Forest University last 
year. Since leaving Lake Forest I have used it successfully in preserv- 
ing red alge at Wood’s Holl. Some of them, as Dasya, retain their 
color almost perfectly under this treatment. Although color in green 
alge is more or less sacrificed, the chromatophores retain their shape 
perfectly, while the cells as a whole become even clearer than fresh 
material Cuas. Tuom, Missouri State University. 
NOTES ON THE WOODY PLANTS OF THE SOUTH 
ATLANTIC STATES. 
I Have collected at several places in the mountains of the southern 
States a Fothergilla which is evidently distinct from the coastal plant. 
Descriptions of both are given, taken from a large number of specimens. 
| The Alabama plant I have not seen. 
