212 Modern Microscopy 



jelly, but be careful to wash away all trace of alcohol before 

 they go into the jelly. 



COLLECTING AND PREPARING FORAMINI- 



FERA.* 



Me. a. Earland's Method {By permission.) 



The foraminifera, in spite of their beauty, the important 

 part which they have played in the building up of our earth, 

 and the many interesting features of their life-history, have 

 not met with so much favour among microscopists as many 

 groups of far less importance. This comparative neglect 

 is largely due to mistaken ideas as to the difficulty of 

 obtaining and preparing suitable material, and it is pro- 

 posed to show, so far as possible within brief limits, that 

 the collection of material is within the reach of every visitor 

 to the seaside, and that the subsequent preparation presents 

 no unusual difficulty to the microscopist. 



The chief sources from which foraminifera may be 

 obtained are : 



1. Dredged material, including anchor muds and sands. 



2. Shore gatherings made between tide marks. 



3. Sands, clays, and limestones of various geological 

 ages, especially from cretaceous and tertiary deposits. 



Probably very few readers will have the opportunity of 

 dredging for material ; and anchor muds, which often 

 contain an abundance of shallow water forms, are rarely 

 obtainable, owing to the strange reluctance of seamen to 

 lend themselves to the collection of scientific material ; 

 but the method of preparation for materials of this class 

 is essentially the same as that for shore gatherings. 



The apparatus required by the shore-collector is of the 

 simplest character, and consists of a scraper for removing 

 the surface film of sand, which alone contains foraminifera, 

 a spoon for scraping material from ripple marks and 

 depressions, and a metal box or canvas bag to contain the 



* Reprinted from Knowledge. 



