20 SEA MOSSES. 



use, and those you could easily take with you in 

 your trunk. What will be found cheaper and still 

 more serviceable, if you are going to mount a large 

 number of plants at once, is a quantity of botanist's 

 "drying paper." It can be had of the "Naturalist 

 Agency," 32 Hawley Street, Boston, Mass., for, I 

 believe, $1.25 per 100 sheets, probably also of other 

 sellers of naturalists' supplies in all the large cities, 

 on both sides of the Continent. It is a coarse, 

 spongy, brown felt paper, cut into sheets, 12 x 18 

 inches, and has a fine capacity for absorbing mois- 

 ture. For convenience, the cotton cloths should be 

 made the same size as the drying paper used. 

 Some collectors, who do not care to mount a great 

 number of specimens at once, but want to have 

 them very smooth and fine when dry, use no 

 drying paper at all, but in the place of it, have 

 thin smooth pieces of deal, got out a foot or so square 

 and one-quarter or one-third of an inch thick; upon 

 these they spread one or more layers of cotton and 

 lay the plant on them and put as many more ovei 

 it; the cotton absorbs the moisture, and the boards 

 keep the pressure even and the papers and plants 

 straight and smooth throughout. For " mounting paper " 

 each one must use his own taste. Many prefer cards 

 cut of uniform size : they can be had at almost any 



