OF THE FILAMENTOUS ALG.E. b< 



vessel — a hand-basin is perhaps the best thing : at any 

 rate, the vessel must be of such a depth as to admit of the 

 whole hand being immersed, back downwards, under the 

 plant. Give a final touch to the specimen either with 

 a needle or with the fingers, to induce it to spread its 

 filaments in every direction equally, and to get rid of knots 

 and lumps. Then draw the piece of paper carefully under 

 the specimen, so that the latter floats immediately over 

 the centre. Spread the left hand under the paper, and 

 the whole can be lifted slowly and cautiously out of the 

 water. It may be retained for a few seconds in this 

 position to let some of the moisture drip off, and then 

 laid just as it is on a packet of five or six sheets of blotting 

 paper.* In this way the whole of the specimens at hand 

 may be gradually disposed of. The next step is to place 

 them under the press. For this purpose the little heaps 

 of blotting paper, each with its accompanying specimen, 

 are to be piled one above the other to any convenient 

 height, a sheet of stearine paper having been laid on each 

 specimen before it receives its load of drying paper. The 

 layers then follow each other in this fashion : 1. A packet 

 of blotting paper ; 2. A specimen on white paper ; 3. A 

 sheet of stearine paper; 4. A packet of blotting paper; and 

 so on, the uppermost layer always consisting of blotting 

 paper. The whole pile is next to be laid between two 

 smooth boards of well-seasoned wood. [If to each of the 

 narrow ends there is attached a broad strip of the same 

 wood, but with the grain running in the opposite direction 

 to that on the board itself, it tends greatly to keep it from 

 warping, which the alternations of heat and moisture are 

 apt to induce. Much has been said of late years of the 

 advantage of using, not solid boards, but frames made of 

 parallel strips of wood, one inch apart, held together by 



* The blotting paper should be white, free from knots and rough- 

 nesses, and as absorbent as possible. 



f 2 



