THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 125 



whole firm on cooling. I have a specimen of a cluster of 

 ordinary mushrooms treated in this manner many years ago, 

 which still maintains its perfect form, although the colour has 

 not been retained, as I anticipated, from using paraffin. 



2nd. Soaking in glycerine-gelatine for some time, and then 

 treating with absolute alcohol for about thirty minutes, in order 

 to impart firmness to the specimen. This method involves 

 more expensive re-agents, and might only be recommended for 

 the gelatinous fungi, which it seems to preserve well, judging 

 from the specimens shown. But, as far as shape is concerned, 

 the larger fungi are most easily and inexpensively preserved 

 by steeping in melted paraffin. 



However, all must yield to the final method I have to mention 

 — that devised by Mr. English, who is a working naturalist, and 

 has published details of the method in the manual already 

 referred to. The process consists essentially in the use of a 

 preservative compound, of which he gives the formula, and 

 ample instructions are added to guide any one in following it 

 out. To show its permanency there are specimens now 

 unchanged in the Bethnal Green Museum, London, prepared in 

 1869, and I can testify to the naturalness of the specimens in 

 the Edinburgh Museum. Speaking of the mode of mounting, 

 Mr. English remarks: — "There are some collectors who 

 complain of the vast space a collection of fungi would occupy. 

 I have recently adopted a plan that would reduce the space 

 complained of by splitting the specimens in halves and 

 mounting them on cardboard. By this means we have a 

 representation of the entire plant, and also in sections, with the 

 spores, thus making the plant complete. They are easily 

 arranged in cabinet drawers, where they have a very neat 

 appearance." 



In concluding my remarks on the preservation of natural 

 history objects, I have to point out that it has been my 

 endeavour to show that even here there is still room for 

 originality and improvement, and that we should aim at nothing 

 short of perfection, i.e , preserving specimens to correspond as 

 near as may be with the living reality. The mode of animal 

 preservation already brought under your notice still holds out 

 inducements for discovery, as far as colour is concerned, and we 

 have yet much to learn about plant preservation, especially as 

 regards colour also. Further, the practice of preservation 

 need not become a " mere mechanical exercise," for it throws 

 light on colour, and colour leads to the consideration of its iiscs, 

 whether for the protection or the attraction of insects ; and 

 this brings us again to the still deeper problem of the evohition 

 of the shapes iind colours of flowers adapted with such precision 

 to suit certain insects, and so on. 



