COLLECTING AND DRYING OF PLANTS. 795 



List or the Pkinoipal Microscope Makers. — ^Ross, Powell and 

 Lealand, Smith and Beck, Crouch and Baker, in London; Adie, 

 Bryson, in Edinburgh ; Field, Parkes, in Birmingham ; Dancer, in 

 Manchester ; King, in Bristol ; Nachet, Hartnack, m Paris ; Schick, 

 Pistor, in Berlin : Ploesl, in Vienna. 



II. — On Collecting and Examining Plants, and on the 

 Formation op a Herbarium. 



Instruments and Apparatus. — In examining the characters of 

 plants, with a view to classification, the chief instruments required are 

 a lancet-pointed knife, a small pair of forceps, and a lens from ^ to 1 

 inch focus. With the view of holding the object steadily the blades 

 of the forceps may be made so as to be fastened by a sliding button. 

 In more minute examinations, the simple or compound microscope must 

 be called into requisition. In selecting specimens, care should be 

 taken to have the plants in a perfect state, or with aU the character- 

 istic parts present. The entire plant should be taken when practicable ; 

 when that is not the case, then those parts should be taken on which 

 the generic and specific characters are founded. The roots should 

 always be carefully washed at the time the plants are gathered. In 

 most cases, particularly in specimens of Umbelliferse, Leguminosse, 

 Oompositse, Eosse, etc., it is of importance that both flowers and fruit 

 should be preserved. In the case of Willows the young shoot, with 

 its fully developed leaves, as well as the male and female flowers, are 

 requisite. In Rubi, specimens of the young shoots must be taken. 

 When bulbs or tubers exist, they should be preserved, either in an 

 entire or split condition ; and when there is much mucilaginous matter 

 in them, they may be enveloped in small pieces of paper, so as to 

 prevent them from adhering to the drying paper. In the case of 

 Ferns, two fronds are necessary to make a perfect specimen, showing 

 both surfaces, along with a portion of the rhizome. Entire specimens 

 of Graminese and Cyperacese should be collected ; these, when long, 

 may be bent into one or more folds, corresponding to the size of the 

 paper on which they are to be fastened, the folds being temporarily 

 retained by small slips of paper having slits in the centre. No bad 

 specimens ought to be preserved. 



In taking up the roots of plants, a small Bigger or trowel is used, 

 7 or 8 inches long (fig. 957) ; the spud 2| inches long, 2 J inches wide 

 at the top, narrowing gradually to 2 inches at the bottom, the lower 

 angles slightly rounded. It should be sufficiently strong to resist 

 considerable force in digging out plants from the crevices of roclcs. 

 The iron portion, which unites the spud to the handle, should be par- 

 ticularly attended to in this respect. This spade is put into a leather 

 sheath, and fastened by a strap round the waist, the spade itself being 



