BULLETIN 39, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. ['30] 



COLLECTION OF SEEDS. 



There is a general lack of seeds in collections, since little or no atten- 

 tion has been paid to this important branch of botany. The collector 

 should look carefully for the seeds of plants, and should secure a good 

 quantity of as many species as possible. They may merely be wrapped 

 in paper, kept dry, and marked with the same number that has been 

 given the other parts of the species collected for the herbarium. The 

 collector should also dry with the herbarium specimens some of the 

 smaller succulent fruits, besides those prescribed above, as well as pre- 

 serve a few in alcohol. 



III.— PnEPARiNa Plants for the Herbarium. 



CARE OF THE DRIED PLANTS, POISONING, ETC. 



After the plants have been collected and thoroughly dried, there still 

 remains a considerable amount of work outside of their scientific iden- 

 tification that must be done to them before they can be finally incor- 

 porated in the herbarium. 



After the plants have lain a week without pressure and become thor- 

 oughly dry, they may be taken out of the drier s and thin papers and 

 jjlaced in the herbarium. They are usually first transferred to rough 

 X^aper of some kind, either double, and placed between the folds, or, as 

 I prefer, single, and simply laid on with their labels. System is useful 

 in all things, and many valuable specimens will be saved by observing 

 certain rules even in such simple matters as this. The papers upon 

 which the specimens are placed should be ample, say 18 by 12, or at 

 least 17 by IL inches, and should be of uniform size. Many such pa- 

 pers will be in constant use in the herbarium, and a reserve package 

 should be kept on hand. They need not generally be bought, as noth- 

 ing is better than common newspapers, especially if the paper is mod- 

 erately strong and heavy, and nearly every one has a surplus of these; 

 but it is well worth while to cut them to a measure. In laying off" the 

 plants the thin papers should be systematically restored to their general 

 package without having to move them twice, and the driers released for 

 further use. Only one or two driers will be needed for each specimen 

 after the last change, when they are laid away to dry but. It will often 

 happen that there are several specimens of the same plant. These are 

 to be placed either on the same sheet or on sheets immediately following 

 them. No sheet should ever be left without the proper number or label 

 for the specimens accompanying it, for, as stated above, everything de- 

 pends upon the proper labeling of a specimen. 



A botanist's collectioti always consists of two departments : the herha- 

 rium proper and the duplicates. The former he arranges in strict botan- 

 ical order, sees to it that it contains a perfect specimen fully repre- 

 sented of every plant he has ever collected, and adds to it as many 

 other plants as he is able to obtain through the process of exchanging, 

 or in any other way. The latter contains a large number of specimens of 



