Taxidermy. 



quire great care in drying almost any kind ot paper will do, and 

 although the more bibulous or absorbent (like blotting paper) the 

 bettor, yet old newspapers will answer sufficiently well. In the 

 absence of of a botanical box to which to transfer the specimen^ 

 when collected, they should be carried home as soon as possible, 

 to prevent withering of the flowers. Each specimen may be about 

 a foot or so in maximum length. Provide some boards the size of 

 the paper, lay three or four sheets on one and spread out as many 

 specimens as it will take without crowding upon them, lay a few 

 more sheets of paper, then some plants, and so proceed until all 

 are disposed of. A board should be placed between every dozen 

 or so layers of plants, and another on the top — a weight of stones, 

 or any heavy materials, should then be placed on all. Next day 

 the plants should all be shifted and placed in dry paper, but other- 

 wise treated as before, and this changing should be continued 

 every day, or every other day latterly, until the specimens are 

 quite dry ; they may then, according to the pleasure of the col- 

 lector, be displayed on half sheets of white paper of uniform size, 

 to which they may be fixed with gummed slips of paper. The 

 locality and date should be appended not only in this case, but in 

 that of all other objects of natural history. Practice will soon 

 teach one the best mode of training and distributing the speci- 

 mens so as to obtain an equal pressure, which in case of woody 

 twigs, for example, can be done by paring away one side of the 

 stem. A bookful of pretty jungle or wild flowers, neatly done 

 up, would prove no mean rival in point of attraction to a lady's 

 album upon a drawing-room table. Ferns especially look re- 

 markably well upon paper, and no class of plants are more easily- 

 dried. Of sea-weeds, some of the smaller and more delicate kinds 

 form objects of great interest when displayed upon white paper, 

 and we have seen many beautiful collections of them formed by 

 ladies residing on the coast — while the large kinds of sea-weeds 

 may be dried between sheets of paper like plants, care having 

 previously been taken to wash them well and soak them besides 

 for several hours in fresh water ; the more delicate kinds require 

 it different treatment. After well washing a specimen of one of 

 the delicate kinds in fresh water, place it in a dish of clean water 



