— ql— 



to the herbarium sheets on which the plants, from which the dis- 

 sections were made, are fastened. The necessary legend for iden- 

 tification is easily scratched on the mica with a metal point. 

 — J. Franklin Collins. 



As some of our readers may not be familiar with glycerine 

 jelly, it may be useful to state that it can be bought of any dealer 

 in microscopical supplies. It can be softened for use by heating a 

 bit on a slide, or by immersing the bottle in cold water and then 

 raising the water to the boiling point, when the jelly will be lique- 

 fied. If a slide bearing a water or glycerine mount be slightly 

 warmed, the jelly can be easily run under the cover glass by 

 putting a drop on one side and drawing out the other medium at 

 the other side with a piece of blotting paper. An ordinary kero- 

 sene lamp can be used to warm slides if nothing better is at hand. 



Mr. Collins' method will do away with the shrinkage which 

 is so troublesome when water mounts are transferred directly to 

 the jelly. I once obtained a large quantity of excellent mica from 

 a wall-paper factory where it was ground up to make the glitter- 

 ing specks in the wall-paper. This was much cheaper than the 

 article ordinarily sold at hardware stores because of tne small 

 size of the pieces. I do not think that the ordinary moss mount 

 requires a power high enough to render the variations in thickness 

 of covers of very great importance and always use mica covers 

 for my small slides. — A. J. G. 



MOSSES FOR DISTRIBUTION. 



Specimens of Dicranum scoparium, D. fuscescens, D. fulvum, 

 D. flagellare, and D. pallidum (this last by courtesy of Mr. C. F. 

 Saunders) will be sent to any subscriber for 12 cents. A sterile 

 specimen of D. undulatum will be added for an extra two cents if 

 any failed to take advantage of Mr. Stultz's offer. 



NEW AMERICAN MOSSES. 



From Notes on California Bryophytes, by M. A. Howe in 

 Erythea. 5: 92. 1897. 



Stakleria gracilis (Wils. ) Lindb. " On charred stumps and 

 logs, mainly of Sequoia sempervirens. First collected in Turner's 

 Canon between Cazadero and Fort Ross, Sonoma county, March 

 15, 1896; later at various stations in Mendocino county, and near 

 Eureka, Humboldt county. Most of these specimens, in our 

 judgment, cannot be distinguished even varietally from the Euro- 

 pean plants. The processes of the endostome are often as long 



