[With Plato.] 



$he fJmmg flatnralist: 



A Penny Weekly Magazine of Natural History. 



No. 58. 



DECEMBER 7th, 1880. 



Vol. 2. 



SCRAP BOOKS. 



"^"OUNG people have always been 

 4- fond of " Scrap Books." When 

 we were young, pictures were neither 

 so cheap nor so plentiful as they are 

 to-day. The colored print that can 

 now be bought for a few coppers, did 

 not exist then, still those whose taste 

 led them that way managed to please 

 themselves with what they could obtain 

 and many a pleasant hour have wespent 

 in arranging our treasured scraps and 

 pasting- them into our book. The sugges- 

 tion was made to as, a little while ago that 

 considerable advantage could be gained 

 if young people with a taste for Natural 

 History would form a scrap book in 

 accordance with their tastes. Botani- 

 cal specimens are not always very 

 beautiful but they sometimes are, and 

 if not wanted strictly for scientific 

 purposes, could often be made more so, 

 and what could be prettier to look at 

 and more interesting, than a group of 

 wild flowers, dried and pressed to best 

 advantage, and arranged on the page 

 in the form of a bouquet. Very little 

 experience would teach which plants 

 dry best, which leaves, and which 



flowers would keep their color. The 

 wings of a butterfly or two, with the 

 body painted in, could be placed in 

 suitable places, or there is a process of 

 " nature printing " by which the scales 

 can be transferred from the butterfly's 

 wing to the paper. Great scope would 

 be afforded for the exercise of good taste. 

 Other pages could have pictures of wild 

 animals, birds or other things, and 

 around them, instead of a printed bor- 

 der, could be arranged a border of fern 

 fronds or dried leaves of other plants, 

 or some of the beautiful colored sea- 

 weeds. Another very beautiful border 

 could be made of skeleton leaves, 

 bleached and mounted on black paper, 

 for the preparation of which see Y. N. 

 No. !2, page 14. Dried grass or moss 

 is also very beautiful and could be 

 grouped in many ways with good effect. 

 -We especially suggest the preparation 

 of a scrap book of this kind to young- 

 ladies. A step further than this in a 

 scientific direction, would be the mount- 

 ing of dried plants singly, one on a 

 page, or more than one where very 

 small. The names both English and 

 Scientific could be placed at the foot, 

 and while looking over such a scrap 



