ACTA ET AGENDA, 575 



zoa should be dried, and carefully preserved from crushing by fixing 

 them in chip-boxes." 



" In collecting sea-weeds, the best kind of receptacle is an ordinary 

 sponge-bag. A stout stick with a chisel end is most convenient, and a 

 cotton bag in a landing-net ring at the other end of it is useful in recov- 

 ering detached floating specimens. In preparing sea-weed for the 

 herbarium, great care must be taken in spreading each specimen with a 

 small camel's hair brush on a paper mount inserted below it while 

 floating in a basin. The specimen should then be dried in the ordinary 

 way ; but a layer of muslin should be placed over the sheets of speci- 

 mens to prevent their adhering to the upper sheet of drying-paper. In 

 preserving minute Phyto-plankton, marine Diatoms, and the like, a fluid 

 preparation is best. Either chromic acid 0*25 per cent, solution or 

 platinic chloride 0'5 per cent, solution is excellent as a fixing and pre- 

 serving fluid ; but where minute calcareous organisms are involved, 

 formalin (5 per cent.) gives good results for them as well as for all the 

 other kinds, and is to be recommended for general use. Minute fresh- 

 water Algse are well preserved in carbolic acid (about 1 per cent.), or 

 in camphor water, or weak spirit where these are not to be obtained. 

 Such submerged plants as Myriophyllum, Utricularia, Nymphcea, 

 JVuphar, and Nitella should be squeezed, and after the water has stood 

 for some time the upper part may be decanted and the sediment 

 preserved. Scrapings from moist and dripping rocks yield good result." 



It is very desirable that of each species at least two specimens should 

 be sent to the Bombay Natural History Society's museum, because we 

 want to keep one for our museum, whilst the rest will be sent to Europe 

 or to the Cryptogamic Botanist of the Botanical Survey of India for 

 identification. 



The Bombay Natural History Society would, besides, like to get 

 answers to the following questions : — 



(3) When do the plants begin to flower, when do they cease ? 

 Though the flowering time is given of almost all the plants in Cooke's 

 "Flora," it will be very useful to have more data on this point, in 

 order to arrive at exact results with regard to the flowering season in 

 the tropics. The flowering season of the individuals of the same species 

 is, no doubt, different at different places of the Presidency, at different 

 elevations, in different soil, at different degrees of moisture and tem- 

 perature, and in different illumination. 



