KEY TO TRIBES AND GENERA OF MELANOSPERME^. 171 



drying process, just as we should with any ordinary plant, that is, 

 after they have been washed and properly displayed. 



The washing and displaying should be done by means of two 

 large white flat dishes, in the one the specimens should be washed, 

 pruned, and freed from parasites ; they should then be introduced 

 into the other dish singly. When the specimen is floated in the 

 second dish, a neatly cut square of white cartridge paper is to be 

 placed under it, then, with some pointed instrument, the fronds 

 arranged as carefully and naturally as possible; it must then be 

 gently withdrawn from the water, a piece of muslin placed over 

 it to prevent it sticking to the drying paper, and the whole sub- 

 mitted to slight pressure. The specimens will generally be dry in 

 a day or two, and should have the date and locality written on 

 them at once. 



We will now suppose that the plants are dry or nearly dry, 

 and we proceed to examine the frond and fruit. We will take 

 the Eormosira first. The beads of which the plant is composed 

 are now flattened, and may be cut with a pair of draper's scissors; 

 these scissors are broad at the points and therefore answer our 

 purpose best. Provide a glass slip with a drop of water on it on 

 a sheet of white paper, then take one of the beads between the 

 thumb and forefinger of the left hand, hold it directly over the 

 drop of water on the slip, and cut it into as fine shreds as possible, 

 taking care to use the left thumb nail as a fence or stay for the 

 scissors blade. Out about a score of sections as small as possible, 

 i.e., thin, then look at them through the microscope, there are 

 sure to be four or five beautifully thin sections already swelling 

 out and showing the medullary and cortical layers of the frond, 

 and most probably there will also be found some sections of the 

 fruit or conceptacle, as shown in Fig. 15, an excellent specimen 

 of Fucoid fruit. If a quarter inch objective be now used, the 

 spores will be shown as figured. Now turn to the generic descrip- 

 tion at No. 15. We there read that the frond of Hormosira is 

 moniliform, that is, beaded; that the internodes are inflated; so 

 these are, very much ; also that it has a distinct stem and branches. 



