[23] DIRECTIONS FOR COLLECTING PLANTS KNOWLTON. 



and stones and tidepools, and from heaps of refuse, especially tangled 

 masses of eelgrass (Zostera), after storms. (2) By net (a shallow net of 

 fine mesh on a stout rod ; net not over six or eight inches in diameter) 

 from the margin, especially of the incoming tide. (3) By a scraping- 

 net, from piles at the sides of wharves; scraping-net like the preceding 

 net, but the net deeper and attached to an iron rim shaped like o 

 the straight side to be used as a scraper. (4) By dredge or grappling- 

 hook from the bottom in deeper water. 



Succulent or slimy algse must be exposed to the air or soaked in fresh 

 watet" before ihoiiiiting. Coarse or wiry Or cartilaginous or firm species, 

 especially if composed of many fine branches, may be preserved tempo- 

 rarily by rolling them up dry in a little sand in newspaper or other 

 packages. 



Card mounts. — To mount seaweeds at the shore : Having brought ill 

 your specimens in a pail of sea water, or, if delicate or particularly 

 choice, each separate in a wide-mouthed bottle of sea water. 



(1) Wash the plant in sea water; few species will bear fresh water; 



(2) Float the plant in a basin of sea water (as a washbowl), or fresh 

 water if it will bear it without change of color or substance. 



(3) Place under the floating plant a card of requisite size, or sheet of 

 thick unsized firm paper, on which the i3lant is to be mounted. See 

 that the paper or card is uniformly wet and as clean as practicable. 



(4) Raise up the card with plant on it; let the center of each coin- 

 cide; distribute and arrange the branches in as natural and separate a 

 manner as may be; this is best done by the action of the sea water 

 itself, as it flows off from the card in raising it out of the water. 



(5) Let the specimen drip a moment, then press under light weight 

 between driers or between newspapers under a board. 



In pressing, specimens may be treated much as flowering plants, with 

 these differences: 



(1) Put a i)iece of cotton cloth over each specimen to prevent its 

 adhering to the paper over it. 



(2) Use little weight; much weight will leave the print of the cloth 

 in the specimen. 



(3) It is well to note on the paper before immersing into water date, 

 place, and habitat. 



To mount microscopic slides of marine algse: 



(1) Do it at once from sea water or later from specimens preserved in 

 alcohol. 



(2) Firm specimens may be mounted in cells in glycerine jelly (a few 

 will bear Canada balsam). 



(3) Delicate specimens may be mounted in cells in King's marine algae 

 mounting-fluid (obtained from Queen's, Philadelphia, 912 Chestnut 

 street; Educational Supply Company, Hamilton Place, Boston, or from 

 Eev. J. D. King, Edgartown, Massachusetts). 



