20 



MODE OF PKOCEED1NG 



from the water. I always use two sorts, viz., first, Ben- 

 tail's botanical drying-paper,* and afterwards another of 

 finer texture, such as is used by druggists, and called 

 filtering-paper, or, what will answer equally well, thick 

 blotting-paper. All these can be procured at any re- 

 spectable stationer's. Each sheet should be folded to 

 a quarto size, and had better remain uncut, for the con- 

 venience of being hung across a line, to dry for future 

 use. Three or four smoothly-planed deal boards, about 

 an inch thick, and thirteen or fourteen inches square, 

 will also be required, as well as a good many pieces of 

 fine linen, cambric muslin, or calico, about the same 

 size, that which has been worn previously being prefer- 

 able to new.f 



* To be procured of Mr. Newman, 9, Devonshire St., 

 Bishopsgate St., London. 



f When it is the collector's object to preserve Alga? in 

 the least troublesome manner, and in a rough state, to be 

 afterwards laid out, and prepared for pressing at leisure, 

 the specimens, fresh from the sea, are to be spread out, and 

 left to dry, in an airy, but not too sunny, situation. They 

 are, besides, not to be washed or rinsed in fresh water ; nor 

 is their natural moisture to be squeezed from them. The 

 more loosely and thinly they are spread out, the better ; and 

 in warm weather they will be sufficiently dry after a few 

 hours' exposure to allow of packing. In a damp state of 

 the atmosphere, the drying process will occupy some days. 

 No other preparation is needed ; and they may be loosely 

 packed in paper bags, or, what is preferable, spread out 



