694: REPORT—1896, 
with an alcoholic solution of mercuric chloride before mounting the speci- 
mens for permanent preservation. 
Potassium Acetate, used with the same precaution as to disinfection, 
makes a useful medium in some cases in a saturated solution in water. 
Acetic Acid diluted with from 1 to 4 parts water has been used by me 
with fair success as a preservative solution for some things. 
[Mercurie Chloride, 4 ounce to one gallon of distilled or soft water, 
renewed every year or two, preserves fruits. Glycerine may be added to 
bring the fluid to the proper density. 
Salicylic Acid, about 1 ounce to 5 gallons of water, with glycerine added 
in proportion to juiciness of fruits, usually from 8 to 15 per cent. 
Salicylic Acid.—1 ounce is dissolved in 8 ounces of alcohol, which 
is added to 2 gallons of soft or distilled water. Recommended for dark 
fruits. 
Zine Chloride, 2 per cent. dissolved in water and filtered. Recom- 
mended for light-coloured and for yellow fruits. 
Sulphurous Acid, 2 ounces of concentrated solution in 1 gallon of soft 
or distilled water. Said to be useful, but bleaches some and overcolours 
other fruits. 
Sodium Bisulphite, } ounce, spirit 4 ounces, water 1 gallon. Dissolve 
the salt in half a pint of the water, add the rest of the water and the 
spirit, and filter. 
Kerosene when pure is said to be good for fruits of Rubus. 
I have not tried the methods within the brackets, owing to want of 
facilities while extension of buildings is going on. | 
Dry PREPARATION. 
For Herbarium.—For over twenty years I have employed wire frames, 
obtaining the requisite pressure by use of rug-straps or of old and pliant 
rope secured over the ends as well as the sides of the bundle. Pressure 
sufficient only to prevent shrinkage gives the best results. The wire 
frames permit of the easy application of artificial heat, and the results as 
to colour of all parts and as to retention of shape have been excellent, 
with a minimum of labour in changing papers. Plants that require 
specially careful handling and dissections are, of course, treated in thin 
sheets of paper, in which they lie till dry, the thin sheets being trans- 
ferred unopened to the new sheets in changing the papers. 
For ‘ Habit’ and as Museum Specimens.—-The specimens are exposed 
to dry air without special precautions, or are sometimes secured to prevent 
warping, or hung up in the position most likely to preserve the forms, 
a weight sometimes being suspended from each to prevent distortions in 
drying. 
Some can be treated most satisfactorily by placing them in a box 
prepared with a sliding bottom and a wire partition near it to lay the 
plants on or to support them in it. Fine clean silver sand is then run 
around and between all parts of the specimen, and. the box is placed for 
some days in a dry warm place until the plant is dried. 
PREPARATION OF SPECIMENS. 
Boiling has proved effective in preserving the natural arrangements of 
protoplasm, &c., in Spirogyra and other microscopic plants; and it has 
also been resorted to by me with advantage to prevent blackening of the 
tissues in some of the species notoriously apt to become black, both as 
herbarium specimens and in fluid. 
