156 D. Prain — Methods of preparing Botanical Specimens. [No. 3, 



position of its parts becomes impossible. This is very unfortunate, 

 because there is no natural order where a proper understanding of the 

 position of parts, particularly of the lip and the column, is so necessary. 

 Spirit preparations are most unsatisfactory. If the spirit is sufficiently 

 strong to preserve the flowers the parts become so brittle that when 

 handled they go to pieces ; if weak enough to prevent this hardening 

 and consequent friability the spirit does not adequately preserve the 

 specimens. The jars and bottles in which the specimens are placed, 

 moreover, are very apt to get broken, and any one who has tried it will 

 testify to the worry that is caused by the necessity of having to carry 

 about a stock of alcohol. Dr. Schweinfurth when travelling in Africa, 

 made use of a most excellent modification of the method of preservation 

 in spirit. He laid his specimens between sheets of drying paper, laid 

 these in tin-boxes and soldered them up after soaking the paper thoroughly 

 with spirit. He was thus able greatly to reduce the initial stock of 

 alcohol and was freed from the subsequent anxiety of possible break- 

 ages. Bat the objections to spirit as a preserving medium for flowers 

 are not obviated by this mode of applying it, and it remains to be seen 

 whether the Alu.ni solution will answer as a subtitute if used in this 

 way. 



In the meantime Mr. R. Pantling,* who for many years has made 

 a special study of Orchids, has perfected a method of drying them so far 

 in advance of anything hitherto accomplished that it is highly desirable, 

 that the details of his process should be made known. At the writer's 

 request Mr. Pantling has supplied these details and like Mr. Maries, 

 has courteously given him permission to communicate the account to the 

 Society. This memorandum is given below ; it will be noticed that it 

 consists of a happy combination, suitably modified, of the ordinary me- 

 thod of fire-drying recommended for all ordinary plants with the hot- 

 sand process mentioned by Mr. Maries as that practised by florists in 

 Europe. 



" To dry Orchid Specimens. — In order to preserve Orchids so that 

 ' the leaves and flowers remain intact and do not fall away in fragments 

 ' as invariably happens to epiphytal species when pressed in the ordi- 

 ' nary way between drying paper, the procedure to be adopted should 

 ' be as follows. Procure a light metal box — 14 inches, by 12 inches, 

 ' by 6 inches deep is a convenient size — and place over the bottom half- 

 ' an-inch of sand. Arrange a specimen between two sheets of thin 

 ' paper inside the box and cover over with a layer of sand taking care, 

 ' as far as possible, that the interstices between leaves, etc., are filled 

 ' up. Repeat this until the box is full, then place it on a stove or above 



* First Assistant, Department of Cinchona Cultivation in Bengal. 



