OF THE MARINE ALG.E. 
99 
sheet only is left between each specimen. In this state 
the pile should be left for several days, until the plants lie 
quite Hat and all danger of their curling up is past. 
It frequently happens that the gelatinous Alga;, such as 
Mesogloia, are found adhering by their upper surface to the 
stearine paper ; but there is not the least necessity to try 
and separate them, as a beginner might be tempted to do : 
any such attempt would only end in the destruction of the 
specimen, or at any rate in the spoiling of its appearance. 
He has but to 4 leave well alone,’ to let the Alga remain as 
it is until it is perfectly dry, and the stearine paper will 
then spring oft* spontaneously, or in any case may be easily 
separated without the least injury being done to the prepa- 
ration. Even if small fragments of the paper should adhere 
to the Alga when it is taken off, it is easy enough to re- 
move them by simply touching them with a moistened hair 
pencil, waiting a short time until the fragments are satu- 
rated, and then scraping them gently with the sharp edge 
of a penknife. The portions that have been wetted 
quickly dry up, and the preparation has as neat an appear- 
ance as before. 
A few species, especially those belonging to the genera 
Schizonema and Ectocarpus, must not be placed under a 
press at all. The fronds are too tender and too soft to bear 
the weight of the superincumbent bricks. At the same 
time, the reader will have gathered from the previous 
remarks that drying in the open air has a tendency to 
crumple the paper on which the Alga lies. But this diffi- 
culty is to be got over by a little perseverance. As soon as 
the plants are thoroughly dried, let the paper be dipped into 
a basin of clean w^ater, remaining there for a few seconds — in 
fact, only until it is wetted through and bends with facility. 
Take it out quickly, and having placed it between some 
sheets of blotting paper (with the usual stearine cover on 
the object), draw the hand backwards and forwards over the 
pile until the previously wetted paper has discharged all its 
moisture. In this way it will recover its smooth appearance 
