INTRODUCTION 29 
In drying specimens the material should be 
floated out, and a mount-paper of suitable size placed 
under it and slowly lifted out by one corner. By 
means of a camel-hair brush the branches may be 
kept apart, since they are apt to become entangled at 
the critical moment of leaving the water. When this 
happens at one or two spots merely, a drop of water 
placed on the part will permit of rearrangement 
without plunging the whole in again. A number of 
specimens may be dried simultaneously by using, 
instead of a basin, a shallow zinc tray with a per- 
forated or wire-woven plate large enough for several 
specimens. It requires practice in lifting it out, and 
though specimens good enough for botanical pur- 
poses may be so obtained, they are never so beauti- 
fully arranged as when taken out singly on their 
mounts. The wet specimens on their mounts 
should be placed at once between sheets of drying- 
paper (blotting-paper is too absorbent) with a layer 
of muslin over each sheet of specimens to prevent 
their adhering to the upper sheet of drying-paper. 
As a rule seaweeds need less pressure than flower- 
ing plants, and the collector will very soon learn to 
adjust 1t. Plenty of drying-paper should be used, 
and frequently changed—twice during the first 
twenty-four hours, and once afterwards until the 
specimens are quite dry. 
Though dried specimens can be easily soaked out 
again for microscopic examination, they are never so 
good for this purpose as those that have been preserved 
in fluid. A good method of soaking is to place the 
part to be examined, over-night or longer, in absolute 
