SCIENCE- GOSSIP. 



ic>5 



sweetbriar dried several years ago that are still 

 quite bright. Even with the greatest care there 

 must be inevitably many failures, so the collector 

 must preserve a large number of specimens, and 

 select the best. 



The acid answers extremely well with roses and 

 orchids, including the white species of each, which 

 otherwise inevitably turn brown. The effect on 

 the butterfly orchis is curious. The flowers lose 

 their fleshiness and get the appearance of white 

 silver paper ; the tints, however, of the bracts and 

 all the green parts of the inflorescence become a 

 pale greenish-yellow, showing that the acid does 

 affect the leaves of certain plants, but not in the 

 same way as the flowers. It is not easy to know, 

 except by experiment, which white flowers require 

 the acid ; but in general it may be said that thin , 

 quickly-drying flowers do not require it. In fact, 

 with very thin flowers, such as in the genera 

 Cerastmm and Stellaria, its use is almost impos- 

 sible, as the flowers would lose their shape 

 irrecoverably. With some delicate flowers the 



only possible way of using it is to touch them 

 with a fine camel's-hair brush dipped in the mix- 

 ture ; then soak up the moisture at once with 

 blotting-paper, and spread out the collapsed petals 

 with a pin. It requires infinite patience and con- 

 siderable practice ; but I have succeeded very 

 f aii-ly in this way with Geraw'mm vwlle, for example, 

 which, when dried in the sun with cotton-wool, 

 loses size and becomes too blue. 



The hints here given are the result of many 

 years' laborious practice. My own herbarium is 

 not large, probably not more than 500 or 600 

 specimens in all, including British and foreign 

 plants. I make no attempt at completeness, but 

 every year dry some thirty or forty of those most 

 interestmg to me. I have found, however, that 

 with sufiicient trouble I can make nearly all speci- 

 mens beautiful and natm-al. I have so often been 

 asked by my friends how I managed that I 

 thought a larger public might be glad to have the 

 benefit of my experience. 



The Vicarage, Chalfont St. Peter, Bucks. 



THE MYCETOZOA. 



By J. Saunders, A.L.S., and E. Saunders. 



{Continued from page 6.) 



Habitats of Mycetozoa. 



"TT is a curious fact, and one worthy of note, that 

 -*- fashion influences to a certain extent the 

 subjects that engage the attention of natural his- 

 tory observers, and shall we say scientific students 1 

 Some twenty years ago the stoneworts and other 

 freshwater Algae were favourite subjects with 

 botanists, whilst the closing decade of the last 

 century found the Mycetozoa well to the front in 

 scientific estimation. Consequent upon the latter 

 circumstance the literature of the subject has 

 recently experienced a remarkably large increase. 

 In witness of this we need only mention the 

 writings of Mr. A. Lister, the Right Hon. Sir E. 

 Fry, Mr. G. Massee, and scattered notices in the 

 Proceedings of various provincial societies. No- 

 where, however, have we met with any article that 

 treats of these organisms from the standpoint in 

 which they are regarded in the present communi- 

 cation. 



In all catalogues and monographs of the 

 Mycetozoa it is customary to mention the kind of 

 vegetation on which they are found, but no one 

 to our knowledge has grouped them according to 

 habitat. It is almost superfluous to state that 

 these creatures are, with rare exceptions, Sapro- 

 phytes — that is, they feed usually upon decaying 

 vegetation. They are denizens of such situations 

 as heaps of dead leaves, fallen branches in damp 

 woods, tree-stumps, old straw-heaps, and, much 



more rarely, bog moss and humus. Although they 

 are sometimes found on living plants, in such cases 



Badhamia utricularis PLASMODIUM. (From Nature,') 



they have crept up from tlie underlying decayed 

 vegetation for the purposes of fruiting and th^ 



E 3 



