98 
OF THE MARINE ALGjE. 
very fact of the Alga and the paper on which it lies 
differing widely in their powers of absorption and evapora- 
tion is alone sufficient to cause the former to separate from 
its support during the process of drying. To meet this 
difficulty it must be submitted to a press, and left there 
until all the moisture is withdrawn. As was mentioned 
under the head of the Filamentous Algas, there is nothing 
so good for the purpose as smooth white absorptive blotting 
paper. Let the preparation, already partially dried, be 
laid on half-a-dozen sheets, and let a piece of stearine paper 
be placed over it, adapted as nearly as can be to the size of 
the object. Next to the stearine comes another layer of 
blotting paper, then a specimen, and so on, until a pile is 
formed of a manageable size, according to the discretion of 
\he operator. The whole is then to be placed between 
smooth boards and weighted with three or four bricks, as 
previously described at p. 68. Nothing more is to be done 
for some six or seven hours, when the damp blotting paper 
should be removed and a fresh supply inserted between the 
boards. The oftener, in fact, a change is made in the 
absorptive material, the better; as it tends to preserve 
both the colouring of the specimen and the clean white 
appearance of the paper on which it lies. 
When changing the drying paper, the best plan is to 
turn the whole pile upside down, so as to get at the lowest 
examples first — the stearine paper, of course, now lying 
below the plants. Carefully remove the first layer of damp 
sheets, taking care not to lift with them the piece of white 
paper attached to the specimen. Lay the latter on a fresh 
stratum of blotting paper, and so proceed with each speci- 
men, loading the whole, as before, with bricks. After the 
lapse of some hours the process must be repeated ; in a 
word, the operator will find that his preparations are not 
merely neater, but also more true to nature, the oftener he 
gives himself the slight trouble required in replacing the 
drying material. In proportion as the moisture is got rid 
of, the latter must be reduced in quantity, until a single 
