90 
THE YOUNG SCIENTIST. 
spring tides, consult your almanac for 
the times of new and full moon, and culti- 
vate your friendly fisherman with a cigar 
or paper of tobacco, and politeness, which 
costs you nothing, but is always appre- 
ciated by these salty and very honest 
people. As a rule they are shy and reti- 
cent towards city folks, but when they 
know you they are always ready and 
pleased to post you as to particular loca- 
tions on the coast where desirable speci- 
mens may be obtained in abundance. Or 
where the tide has cut into the land, thus 
forming " dykes "and " overlopes." Dur- 
ing the spring tides these "dykes" are 
always desirable places for the seaweeds 
of quiet habit. Alwa>s after the heavy 
gales and spring tides there will be found 
on the high water line of our coasts, piled 
up in masses, immense quantities of sea- 
weeds in the form of drift. This should 
be gone over carefully and will be found 
to be rich in deep sea specimens. 
There are various methods of preserving 
seaweeds, and the best of them all consists 
in mounting them on paper. After hav- 
ing reached home with your specimens, it 
is necessary to begin preparing them for 
the press immediately as seaweeds soon 
spoil after their removal from their na- 
tive element. The red weeds must be 
taken in hand first, as they begin to decay 
quicker than the other varities on account 
of containing a large percentage of gela- 
tinous material (I have known them to 
melt away in two hours time after being 
out of water). Wash all your specimens 
in clear i^alt water that has previously 
stood some time to settle. By salt water 
I mean water taken from the ocean or 
river where the plants were collected. 
Presh water will do if the salt cannot be 
obtained, but it has a decided tendency to 
change the colors of the seaweed, and also ! 
to rot them ; still if the specimens are 
handled very quickly it will answer. For 
floating the specimens I have found a 
large meat dish (white) such as is used for 
serving large joints, to be the best. Fill 
such a dish with water, not up to the rim i 
but as far as the shoulder or bend of the i 
rim. Now immerse the paper under the | 
water and ])lace the specimen onto]) of: 
it, allowing it to assume its natural liabit 
of growth as near as is convenient for the 
size of the mounting paper. Now care- 
fully and slowly lift out the plant on the 
paper, and lay it on a smooth board 
placed in a standing position so that the 
water will drain off. If parts of the plant 
become matted together, separate with a 
camel hair brush or sharp pointed stick. 
The spreading out of the finer parts of the 
plant can be accomplished very nicely by 
taking up a drop of water on the end of 
your finger and allowing it to fall on the 
part you desire to spread out. 
Seaweeds can be dried with great suc- 
cess, and packed away for winter's enter- 
tainment, in the following manner. After 
having obtained your seaweeds, procure 
an old sheet, or piece of canvas which is 
to be staked to the ground with wooden 
pins cut from small branches of trees, 
(Fig. 1). These are hooked into holes that 
Fig. 1. 
are perforated all along the edges of the 
sheet, and the long legs of the pins are 
driven into the earth. In this way the 
sheet is kept in position and spread out,, 
all danger of the wind getting under it 
and scattering your specimens is avoided. 
On the sheet is spread a thin layer of diy 
and clea)i sea sand. As each specimen of 
seaweed is taken out of the waiter it is 
allowed to drip for a few moments, after 
which it is laid on the sand. The pur- 
pose of the sand is to rapidly carry off 
all moisture and disperse it by evapora- 
! tion, and also to prevent the seaweed from 
sticking to the sheet. When the speci- 
mens are just so dry that they are pliable, 
Init not crisp, place them in covered boxes 
to be kept till required for mounting. 
This drying must always be accomplished 
in the shade, as sunlight fades the colors,, 
I and the heat produces fermentation caus- 
ing the gelatinous specimens to change 
in :o a pulpy mass. 
In case clean fine sand is not attainable. 
