Directions for preserving Marine Objects, §c. 151 



" The foreign bodies to be got rid of are fragments of decayed sea- 

 weeds, sand, gravel, and sometimes portions of the softened surface of 

 sandstone or argillaceous rock on which the specimens may have grown, 

 together with the smaller testacea, and the Corrallina officinalis, fyc. At 

 Cairnlough Bay I experienced most trouble in this respect from the 

 Ectocarpi, which confervse were so generally diffused, as to be entangled 

 with almost every other species of sea-plant. 



" After the greatest pains which we may take to clean our specimens 

 at the shore, there will generally be found much to do before they can 

 be properly committed to paper, since foreign substances will continue 

 attached to them with much pertinacity, even after we may have been 

 satisfied that they are perfectly clean. It is therefore necessary to pre- 

 pare each specimen by examining it in fresh or sea water in a white 

 dish or plate, so that every thing foreign may be detected and re- 

 moved. 



" The next thing to be attended to is the quality of the paper on which 

 the specimens are to be spread: and here a great error is generally 

 committed, in using it thin and inferior, by which, if the specimen be 

 worth preserving, it has not proper justice done to it. Much of the 

 beauty, indeed, of many species depends on the goodness of the paper, 

 exactly as a print or drawing will appear better or worse, as it is execu- 

 ted on paper of a good or an inferior kind. Some species, too, contract 

 so much in drying as to pucker the edges of the paper, if it be not 

 sufficiently thick, for example Delesseria laciniata, and this has a very 

 unsightly appearance. That which I have from experience been led to 

 prefer is a thick music-paper. It closely resembles that used for draw- 

 ing, and the sheet divides into four leaves, of a most convenient size, 

 each being about an inch and a-half longer and broader than a leaf of 

 this Magazine. These, again, divided into halves answer for small spe- 

 cies, and for large specimens we may use the entire folio. We have 

 thus three regular sizes of paper, and this serves to give a uniformity 

 and neatness to a collection not to be obtained by using papers at ran- 

 dom, and of casual dimensions. 



" Whatever pains we may have taken to clean the recent specimens, we 

 shall often find, when spreading them, that some foreign particles con- 

 tinue attached, and for the removal of these a pair of dissecting forceps, 

 and a camel hair pencil of middle size, will be found very convenient. 

 These, indeed, are almost indispensable, and will be found useful on 

 more occasions than can here be specified. A silver probe, with a blunt 

 and sharp end, is the most convenient instrument for spreading out, 

 and separating branches from each other, but any thing with a rigid 

 point, such as a large needle, or the handle of the camel-hair pencil 

 sharpened, will answer. A large white dinner-dish serves perfectly well 

 for spreading the specimens in, and all that is farther necessary is a 

 quantity of drying papers, and some sheets of blotting-paper, with three 

 or four flat pieces of deal-boax-d. Nothing answers better for drying 



