304 The late Mr. William Griffith. 



the disposal of his collections in any way affects the suggestions I 

 offered in my last, which I trust the Government will sanction; 

 should such prove the case, then the first thing to be done is, to sub- 

 ject the whole collection to the preserving effects of a solution of cor- 

 rosive sublimate in spirits, which effectually destroys any insects, 

 whether hatched or in ova, for should the eggs afterwards hatch, the 

 insect is immediately poisoned. For this purpose a solution of the 

 strength of about one and half or two drachms to the pint is required, 

 to which two or three drachms of camphor is added. It is applied 

 with any sort of brush, the flowers being carefully soaked, as being 

 most liable to attack, and the most important part of the specimen. 

 A watery solution might answer equally well, except that it does not 

 dry so soon, and by wetting the paper is apt to cause mouldiness. 

 A considerable collection of Malacca plants he sent me just before 

 leaving Calcutta, is now undergoing that operation preparatory to 

 their being glued down for incorporation with my general Her- 

 barium. 



" Having been thus guarded from the depredations of insects, the 

 next operation is, to have them glued down on suitable paper, and 

 disposed in cases. The paper that I would recommend for the pur- 

 pose, both as being cheap and generally quite large enough, is that 

 known under the name of Laid Demy. The size is, as near as I can 

 guess, about sixteen by ten inches ; it is rather small for some plants, 

 but large enough for 99 out of the 100, and the larger ones can be 

 folded a little or cut to fit the paper. 



" The collections," he says, " are all grouped into natural orders fol- 

 lowing Lindley's arrangement. These groups should be most careful- 

 ly preserved, enclosed in wrapper sheets (the specimens are put on half 

 sheets) each marked on the left hand corner with the name and 

 number of the order as given in Lindley, and finally arranged in boxes 

 according to the numerical series, which greatly facilitates consulta- 

 tion, and the number at once points out the proper place of each 

 packet in the series. 



" I have been thus particular on the supposition that you, not being 

 a Botanist, might never have had an opportunity of studying the 

 economy of a Herbarium. My own Herbarium occupies twenty boxes, 

 each three feet high within, and wide enough to contain two series, 

 somewhat in that form with double doors for facility of access. It 



