THE VlCTOniAN NATiaUALIST. ]5 



inexpen?iYe]y, would be a boon of no ordinavy kind. I)ried animals, 

 however, are not to be had like dried plants, and indeed the structural 

 features of the two are so different, that a zooarium on the lines of 

 a herbarium would be practically useless. There are, it is true, 

 some animals which niny be peimanently preserved by hanging up in 

 an ai)-y place and drying, (such as small specimens of Skate, known 

 when so preserved as Mummy Skate), still their number is so small 

 that they need not count for much. 



To the working botanist, a herliarium of some sort is regarded as 

 essential, and although the plants may seem disfigured in their 

 flattened condition, they lend themselves so naturally to such a 

 mode of treatment, that there is usually little difficulty in using 

 them thus for reference, or restoring them, if need be, almost to 

 their original condition. The zoologist enjoys no such luxury. He 

 may have the soft parts of animals preserved in spirit, but the hard 

 and dried parts cannot be made to do duty for the whole. As the 

 eminent botanist, M. Alphonse De Candolle has said, " The 

 herbarium is a kind of collection superior to anything which 

 zoologists can possess. The dried plants which compose it are in a 

 perfect state, or nearly so; while shells, skeletons, or stuffed animals, 

 show only certain parts of the beings they represent There are 

 usually several flowers or seeds, so that it is easy to find material 

 for dissectien, if needed. The specimens are ^o little altered, that it 

 is easy by means of a simple immersion, to see the smallest and the 

 most delicate organs. In certain cases one can see them even better 

 than upon the living plants; for example, in the case of ovules 

 embedded in pulpy matter, or of membranes, which separate verv 

 clearly in drying. If collections of dried plants be compared with 

 those of living ones, the advantages are more evenly balanced than 

 is generally believed." 



A collection of dried specimens yielding somewhat similar results 

 to the zoologists is not an impossibility, as the few specimens on 

 the table show, and the mode of preparation of such specimens, 

 together with some of the uses to which they may be applied, will 

 form the subject of the present paper. On some future occasion , 

 I may give the results of my own experiments and those of others, 

 in preserving certain plants, and parts of plants such as fl( wers, in 

 tlieir natural shapes and colours. 



While animal specimens may be excellently preserved in spirit J, 

 glycerine-jelly 2, or other medium 3, it is desirable for numy purposes 

 tohave, if possible, the specimens dry, capable of ready handling, anu 

 nspfulfordemonstratingtoa class. It Avas the desire to have something 



1. Flower, "Natmv," January 4th, 1877. 

 MialL, " Nature." Vol. XVI., p. 360. 



2. Parker, " Nature," February 9lh, 1882. 



3. l.aifE., Eiig. Mechanic, December 23rd, 1881. 



