30 INTRODUCTION. IV. 



soon as practicable after being brought from the shore. The mode of preparation 

 is as follows, and, after a few trials and with a little care, will soon be learned. 



The collector should be provided with three flat dishes or large deep plates, and 

 one or two shallower plates. One of the deep plates is to be filled with sea-water, 

 and the other two with fresh water. In the dish of sea-water the stock of speci- 

 mens to be laid out may be kept. A specimen taken from the stock is then intro- 

 duced into one of the plates of fresh water, washed to get rid of dirt or parasites 

 that may infest it, and pruned or divided into several pieces, if the branches be too 

 dense, or the plant too tufted, to allow the branches to lie apart when the specimen 

 is displayed on paper. The washed and pruned specimens are then floated in the 

 second dish imtil a considerable number are ready for laying down. They are then 

 removed separately into one of the shallower plates, that must be kept filled with 

 clean water ; in which they are floated and made to expand fully. Next a piece of 

 white pa]3er of suitable size is carefully introduced under the expanded specimen. 

 The paper then, with the specimen remaining displayed upon it, is cautiously 

 brought to the surface of the water, and gently and carefully drawn out, so as not 

 to disarrange the branches. A forceps, a porcupine's quill, a knitting needle, or an 

 etching tool, or any finely pointed instrument will assist the operator in displaying 

 the branches and keeping them separate while the plant is lifted from the water ; 

 and should any branch become matted in the removal, a little water dropped from 

 a spoon over the tangled portion, and the help of the finely pointed tool, will restore 

 it. 



The piece of wet paper with the specimen upon it is to be laid on a sheet of soft 

 soaking paper, and others laid by its side until the sheet is covered. A piece of 

 thin calico or muslin, as large as the sheet of soaking paper, is then spread over the 

 wet specimens. More soaking paper, and another set of specimens covered with 

 cotton, are laid on these ; and so a bundle is gradually raised. This bundle, 

 consisting of sheets of specimens, is then placed between flat boards, under moderate 

 jaressure, and left for some hours. It must then be examined, the specimens on 

 their white papers must be placed on dry sheets of soaking paper, covered with 

 fresh cloths, and again placed under pressure. And this process must be repeated 

 every day until the specimens are fully dry. 



In drying, most specimens will be found to adhere to the papers on which they 

 have been displayed, and care must be taken to prevent their sticking to the pieces 

 of cotton cloth laid over them. Should it be found difficult to remove them from 

 the muslin, it is better to allow them to dry, trusting to after-removal, than to tear 

 them away in a half-dried state, which would probably destroy the specimens. A 

 few dozen pieces of unglazed thin cotton cloth of proper size should always be at 

 hand, (white muslin, that costs six or eight cents per yard, answers very well). 

 These cloths will be required only in the first two or three changes, for when the 

 specimen has begun to dry on the white paper it will not adhere to the soaking 

 paper laid over it. In warm weather the smaller kinds will often be found per- 

 fectly dry after forty-eight hours' pressure, and one or two changes of papers. 



