Notes on collecting and preserving natural-history objects ..

IRLF

B 3

THE LIBRARY

OF

THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA

PRESENTED BY

PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND
MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID

COLLECTING 4ND PRESERVING.

NOTES ON

COLLECTING AND PRESERVING

NATUBAL-HISTOBY OBJECTS.

BY

J. E. TATLOB, F.L.S., F.G.S.

K F. ELWIN.

THOS. SOUTHWELL, F.Z.S.

DK, KNAGGS.

E.C. RYE, F.Z.S.

J. B. BfilDGMAN.

PROFESSOR RALPH TATE, F.G.S.
JAS. BRITTEN, F.L.S.
PROFESSOR BUCKJIAN, F.G-S.
DR. BRAITHWAITE, F.L.S.

"VVOUTHINGTON G. SMITH, F.L.&.

REV. JAS. CROMBIE, F.L5.

W. H. GRATTANN.
EDITED BY

J. E. TAYLOR, PHD., F.L.S., F.£.S., &c.

NEW EDITION.

LONDON:
H ALLEN & CO., 13 WATERLOO PLACE. S.W.

1883.
(All rights reserved.)

PEEFACE.

THE following Essays were originally contributed
to the pages of ' Science-Gossip/ by the various
writers whose names they bear. From the constant
queries relating to subjects of this kind, it was
deemed advisable to furnish young or intending
naturalists with such trustworthy information as
would enable them to save time, and gain by the
experience of others. For this purpose, the articles
have been collected in their present portable form
as a Handbook for beginners.

May, 1876.

CONTENTS.

PREFACE

CHAPTER I.
GEOLOGICAL SPECIMENS, BY J. E. TAYLOR, F.L.S., F.G.S. 1

CHAPTER II.
BONES, BY E. F. ELWIN .......... 16

CHAPTER III.
BIRDS' EGGS, BY T. SOUTHWELL, F.Z.S ....... 27"

CHAPTER IV.
BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS, BY DR. KNAGGS . .. 44

CHAPTER V.
BEETLES, BY E. C RYE, F.Z.S ......... 67.

CHAPTER VI.
HYMENOPTERA, BY J. B. BRIDGMAX .. .. .. 95

CHAPTER VII.
LAND AND FRESHWATER SHKLLS, BY PROFESSOR RALPH

TATE, F.G.S ............. 102.

Yin CONTENTS.

CHAPTER VIII.

PACK

FLOWERING PLANTS AND FERNS, BY J. BRITTEN, F.L.S.

(First Part) 117

CHAPTER IX.

FLOWERING PLANTS AND FERNS, BY J. BRITTEN, F.L.S.

(Second Part) 131

CHAPTER X.
•GRASSES, &c., BY PROFESSOR BUCKMAN, F.G.S. .. 139

CHAPTER XI.
.MOSSES, BY DR. BRAITHWAITE, F.L.S. .. .. .. 145

CHAPTER XII.

;FUNGI, BY WORTHINGTON G. SMITH, F.L.S. .. .. 159

CHAPTER XIII.
LICHENS, BY REV. JAMES CROMBIE, F.L.S. .. .. 181

CHAPTER XIV.
SEAWEEDS, BY W. II. GRATTANN 195

JSDEX 209

COLLECTING AND PRESERVING.

GEOLOGICAL SPECIMENS.
BY J. E. TAYLOR, F.L.S., F.G.S.

THE great end of natural-history reading should be
the development of a love for the objects dwelt upon,
and a desire to know more about them. This can
only be brought about by such practical acquaintance
as collecting and preserving them induces. At the
same time we should be sorry to see our young
readers degenerate into mere collectors! It is a
great mistake to suppose, that because you have a
full cabinet of butterflies, moths, or beetles, there-
fore you are a good entomologist ; or that you may
lay claim to a distinguished position as a geologist,
on account of drawers full of fossils and minerals.
But this is a mistake into which young naturalists
frequently fall. We nave seen people with decided
tastes for these studies never get beyond the mere
collecting. In that case they stand on a par with

B

2 GEOLOGICAL SPECIMENS.

collectors of postage-stamps. Nor is there much
gained, even if you become acquainted with English,
or even Latin, names of natural-history objects.
Many people can catalogue them glibly, and never
make a slip, and yet they are practically ignorant of
the real knowledge which clusters round each object,
and its relation to others. Both Latin and English

O

names are useful and even necessary ; but when you
have simply learnt them, and nothing more, how
much wiser are you than before ? No, let the learn-
ing of names be the alphabet of science — the means
by which you can acquire a further knowledge of its
mysteries. It would be just as reasonable to set up
for a literary man on the strength of accurately
knowing the alphabet, as to imagine you are a
scientific man the moment you have learned by
heart a few scores of Latin names of plants, fossils,
or insects! Let each object represent so much
knowledge, to which the very mention of its name
will immediately conjure up a crowd of associations,
relationships, and intimate acquaintances, and you
will then see what a store of real knowledge may
be represented in a carefully-arranged cabinet.

The heading of the present articles will have in-
dicated the subject chosen for brief treatment. We
shall never forget the influence left by reading
such charming and suggestive books as Mantell's

GEOLOGICAL SPECIMENS. 3

•* Medals of Creation,' many years ago. Our mind had
been prepared for the enthusiasm which this little
book produced by the perusal of Page's ' Intro-
ductory Text-book,' Phillips's 'Guide to Geology,'
and several others of a similar character. But we
know of none which impels a young student to go
into the field and hammer out fossils for himself,
like Dr. Mantell's works. It is impossible not to
catch the enthusiasm of his nature. The first place
we sallied out to, on our maiden geological trip, was
a heap of coal-shale, near a pit's mouth, in the
neighbourhood of Manchester. Our only weapon
was a common house hammer, for we then knew
nothing of the technical forms which geological fancy
so often assumes. We had passed that same heap of
coal-shale hundreds of times, without suspecting it to
be anything more than everybody else considered it
viz. a heap of rubbish. Why that particular spot was
selected, we cannot now say. We had seen illustra-
tions of carboniferous plants, shells, &c., in books,
but we seemed to imagine their discovery could only
be effected by scientific men, and that it required a
good deal oi knowledge before one should attempt
to find them. Suffice it to say we made the pil-
grimage to the coal-shale heap in pretty much the
same mind as we should expect to get the head prize
in some fine-art drawing. The humble hammer was

B 2

GEOLOGICAL SPECIMENS.

put into use, for a brief time without much effect, as
we 'could hardly have commenced on a more barren
kind of shale than we had chanced to hit upon.
We imagined we could perceive traces of leaves and
slender stems, but were afraid to trust our eyes. At
any rate, there was nothing definite enough to raise
our enthusiasm. But by-and-by, as the hammer
kept cleaving open the thin leaf-like layers of shale,
there appeared a large portion of that most beautiful
of all fossil plants, the Lepidodendron. Those who
are familiar with this object, with its lozenge-shaped
markings running spirally up the stem, will readily
understand the outburst of pleasure which escaped
our lips ! That was the first real fossil — a pleasure
quite equivalent to that of landing the first salmon.
How carefully was it wrapped in paper, and carried
home in the pocket ! There never was, and never
will be, another fossil in the world as beautiful as
that insignificant fragment of Lepidodendron.

We have seen a good many converts made to
geology in a similar manner, since first we laid open
to the light this silent memorial of ages which have
passed away. Let a man have ever so slight ac-
quaintance with geology, and give him the chance of
hammering out a fossil for himself, and the odds are
you thereby make him a geologist for life. There
is something almost romantic in the idea that you

GEOLOGICAL SPECIMENS. 5

are looking for the first time, and have yourself
disentombed the remains of creatures which probably
lived scores of millions of years ago ! We would
strongly advise our readers, therefore, not to fall into
the error of supposing that fossil-hunting belongs to
highly-trained geologists. On the contrary, it is by
fossil-hunting alone that you can ever hope to be a
geologist yourself. Another mistake often made, is
that of supposing these rich and interesting geo-
logical localities are at a distance. It seems so hard
to suppose, after reading about typical sections. &c.,
that under your very feet, in the fields where you
have so often played, there occur geological pheno-
mena of no less interest. But it is actually surprising
what evidences of our earth's great antiquity, in the
shape of fossils, &c., may be studied and obtained in
the most out-of-the-way and insignificant places.

You say you have no rocks in your neighbourhood
— nothing but barren sands, or beds of brick-earth
or clay, Well, go to some section of the latter,
exposed, perhaps, in some tarn or stagnant pond in
a turnip-field. You examine the sides, and what do
you see? Nothing, but here and there a boulder-
stone sticking out. Well, be content with that.
You said you had no rocks in your neighbourhood ;
how, then, has that boulder, which is a rounded
fragment of a rock broken off from somewhere — •

6 GEOLOGICAL SPECIMENS.

how has it come there ? Here is a poser at once.
Examine it, and you will perhaps see that its hard
surface is polished or scratched, and then you re-
member the theory of icebergs, and feel astonished
to think that you hold in your hand an undeniable
proof of the truth of that theory. Those very
scratchings could have been produced in no other
way ; that foreign fragment of a rock now only to be
found on some distant mountain-side could have been
conveyed in no other manner. Not content with the
exterior examination, you break the boulder-stone
open, when you may chance to find it is a portion of
silurian, carboniferous or oolitic limestone, and that it
contains fossils belonging to one of those formations.
Here is a find — an object with a double interest
turning up where you never expected to discover the
slightest geological incident ! You examine other
boulders, and find in them general evidences of
ice-action in their present re- deposit ion, and most
instructive lessons as to the nature of rocks of various
formations, from the granite and trap series to the
fossiliferous deposits. In fact, there is no place like
one of these old boulder-pits for making oneself
acquainted with petrology, or the nature of stones.

And now, as to the tools necessary to the young
geologist. First of all, he cannot take too few ! It
is a great mistake to imagine that a full set of

GEOLOGICAL SPECIMENS.

Fig. 1.

Fig. 2.

scientific instruments makes a scientific man. The
following hammers, intended for different purposes,
ought to be procured. Fig. 1 is an exceedingly
useful weapon, and one we commonly use, to the
exclusion of all others. It is handy for breaking off
fragments of rock for ex-
amination ; and, if fossils
be included in them, for
trimning the specimens
for cabinet purposes. As
a rule, however, field geo-
logists are always divided
over the merits of their
hammers, some prefer-
ring one shape and some
another. Fig. 2 is gene-
rally used for breaking
up hard rocks, for which
the bevel - shaped head
is peculiarly adapted. It
is usually much heavier
than the rest, and is seldom used except for specific
purposes. If our readers are inclined to study
sections of boulder clay, and wish to extract the
rounded and angular boulder from its stiff matrix,
they cannot do better than use a hammer like
Fig. 3. This is sometimes called the " Platypus "

Pocket Trim-
ming-hammer.

Duck's-head
Hammer.

8

GEOLOGICAL SPECIMENS.

pick. Both ends can be used, and the pick end is
also good for working on soft rocks, like chalk. A
little practice in the field will teach the student
how to use these tools, and when, much better than
we can describe on paper. The hammers can be

obtained from any scien-
tific instrument manu-
facturer, or from a^iy oi
the dealers in geologi-
cal specimens. We have
found that the best Ham-
mers for usage, however,
were to be made out oi
an old file, softened and
well welded, rolled, and
then hammered into a
solid mass. If properly
tempered a hammer made
in this fashion will last
you your life.
So much for the rougher weapons of geological
strife. Next, be sure and provide yourself with
thick-soled shoes or boots. Geological study will take
you into a good many queer places, wet and dry,
rough and smooth, and it is absolutely necessary
to be prepared for the worst. Patent leather boots
and kid gloves are rarely worn by practical geo-

*' Platypus " Pick for clay, &c.

GEOLOGICAL SPECIMENS. 9

logists. And we have heard it remarked at the
British Association meetings, that they could always
tell which members belonged to the Geological Sec-
tion by their thick-soled boots. A similar remark
applies to clothes. The student need not dress
for the quarry as he would for the dining room.
Good, strong, serviceable material ought to be their

Secondly, as to the student's comforts and neces-
saries. These are generally the last thing an ardent
naturalist thinks about. For ourselves, however, we
give him ample leave to provide himself with pipe
and tobacco, should his tastes lie in that direction.
We never enjoyed a pipe half so much as when
solitarily disinterring organic remains which had
slumbered in the heart of the rock for myriads of
ages. As to the leer, we can vouch that it never
tastes anything like so good as during a geological
excursion.

We have found the leathern bags sold for school-
book purposes to be as handy to deposit specimens
in, during a journey, as anything else. They have
the merit of being cheap, are strong, and easily
carried. If not large enough, then get a strong,
coarse linen havresack, like that worn by volunteers
on a field clay. Paper, cotton wadding (not wool),
sawdust for fragments of larger fossils, intended to

10 GEOLOGICAL SPECIMENS.

be repaired at home, wooden pill-boxes, and a few
boxes, which may be obtained from any practical
naturalist, with glass tops, are sufficient " stock-in-
trade " for the young geologist. The wadding does
not adhere to the specimens as wool does, and the
glass-topped boxes are useful, as it is not then
necessary to open a box and disinter a delicate fossil
from its matrix in order to look at it. Add a good
strong pocket lens, such as may be bought for half-a-
crown, and your equipment will be complete. If you
intend to study any particular district, get the sheets
published by the Geological Survey. These will
give you, on a large scale, the minute geology of
the neighbourhood, the succession of rocks, faults,
outcrops, &c. In fact, you may save yourself a
world of trouble by thus preparing yourself a week
or so before you make your geological excursion.
iThe pith of these remarks applies with equal force if
you purpose, first of all, to examine the neighbour-
hood in which you live. Don't do so until you have
read all that has been written about it, and examined
all the available maps and sections. This advice
however, applies more particularly to geological ex-
amination of strata. If you are bent chiefly on
paldBortological investigation, that is, on the study
of fossils, perhaps it will be best iust to read any

GEOLOGICAL SPECIMENS. 11

published remarks you may have access -to, and
then boldly take the field for yourself. In addition
to a hammer, we would advise the young student
to take a good narrow-pointed steel chisel, and a
putty-knife. The former is very useful for work-
ing round, and eventually obtaining, any fossil
that may have been weathered into relief. The
latter is equally serviceable for clayey rocks or
shales.

In arranging the spoils of these excursions for the
cabinet, a little care and taste are required. We
will suppose you to possess one of those many-
drawered cabinets which can now be obtained so
cheaply. Begin at the bottom, so that the lowest
drawers represent the lowest-seated and oldest rocks,
and the uppermost the most recent. If possible,,
have an additional cabinet for local geology, and
never forget that the first duty of a collector is to
have his own district well represented ! A com-
pass of a few miles will, in most cases, enable him to-
get a store of fossils or minerals which cannot well
be obtained elsewhere. Supposing he is desirous of
having the geological systems well represented, he
can always do so by the insertion of such paragraphs
as those which appear in the Exchange columns of
' Science Gossip.' It is by well and thoroughly

12 GEOLOGICAL SPECIMENS.

working separate localities in this fashion that the
science of geology is best advanced. You hear a
good deal about the "missing links," and it is an
accepted fact that we, perhaps, do not know a tithe
of the organic remains that formerly enjoyed life
Who knows, therefore, but that if you exhaust your
district by the assiduous collection of fossils, you
may not come across such new forms as may settle
many moot points in ancient and modern natural
history? The genuine love of geological study is
always pretty fairly manifested in a student's
cabinet. Science, like charity, begins at home.
It impels a man to seek and explain that which
is nearest to him, before he attempts the elucidation
of what really lies in another man's territory !

It is not necessary that the student should waste
time in the field about naming or trying to remem-
ber the names of fossils, &c., on the spot. That can
l>e best done at home, and the pleasure of " collect-
ing " can thus be spun to its longest length. Box
them, pack them well (or all your labour is lost),
•and name them at home. Or supposing you do
not possess books which can assist you in nomencla-
ture, carry your fossils or minerals, just as you
found them, to the nearest and best local museum,
where you will be sure to see the majority of them
in their proper places and with their proper names.

GEOLOGICAL SPECIMENS. 13

Copy these, and when you arrange your specimens
in the cabinet, either get printed cards with the fol-
lowing headings —

Genus

Species _

Formation

Locality

(which can always be obtained at a cheap rate from
the London dealers), or else set to work and copy
them yourself in a good plain hand, so that there
is no mistaking what you write. As far as possible,
in each drawer or drawers representing a geolo-
gical formation, arrange your specimens in natural-
history order — the lowest organisms first, gradually
ascending to the higher. By doing so, you present
geological and zoological relationship, so that they
can be taken in at a glance. You further make
yourself acquainted with the relations of the fossils
in a way you never would have done, had you been
content to huddle them together in any fashion, so
that you had them all together. Glass-topped boxes,
again, are very useful in the cabinet, especially for
delicate or fragile fossils, as people are so ready to
take them in their hands when they are shown,
little thinking how soon a cherished rarity mav be

14 GEOLOGICAL SPECIMENS.

destroyed, never to be replaced. Pasteboard trays,
made of stiff green paper, squared by the student
according to size, can also be so arranged as that
the drawer may be entirely filled, and so the
danger of shaking the contents about may be re-
moved. Each tray of fossils ought to have the
above -mentioned label fastened down in such a
way as that it cannot by accident get changed by
removal.

The spring and summer time are fast approach-
ing, and we know of nothing that will so much assist
in their rational enjoyment as the adoption of some
study in natural science. Botany, entomology, orni-
thology, geology, are all health-affording, nature-
loving pursuits. We have passed some of the very
happiest moments of our lives in solitary quarries,
or on green hill-sides,

" The world forgetting, by the world forgot ! "

There, amid the wreck of former creations, and
with the glory of the present one around us, we
have yielded to the delicious sense of reverie, such
<as can only be begotten under such circumstances.
The shady side of the quarry has screened us from
solar heat, and, whilst the air has been melodious
with a thousand voices, we have made personal
acquaintance with the numerous objects of God's

GEOLOGICAL SPECIMENS. 15

creation, animals and plants. How apt are the
thoughts of the poet Crabbe, and how well do they
convey the feeling of the young geologist in such
places :

" It is a lonely place, and at the side
Rises a mountain rock in rugged pride ;
And in that rock are shapes of shells, and forms
Of creatures in old worlds, and nameless worms ;
Whole generations lived and died, ere man,
A worm of other class, to crawl began."

16 BONES.

II.

BONES.

BY EDWARD FENTONE ELWIN, CAIUS COLLEGE.

WHY is it that the students of Osteology are so few
in number ? It is a branch of science which offers
a wide field for original research, and one in which
at every step one's interest must get more and more
engrossed. It is a branch of science in which a
sufficient portion of its elements may be rapidly
learned, in order to set the student fairly on his
road. The barriers which surround it are few : that
is to say, the technical barriers are few. Many people
who want to occupy themselves with scientific study
are deterred, because of the feeling that there are so
many laborious preliminaries to be gone through
before they can begin to take any real pleasure in
the pursuit. Now, in Osteology it is true that a
wide and really almost unexplored field lies open
before one, but the equipments necessary to fit one
for one's journey are easily attained. The first step
is to get thoroughly acquainted with some one
typical specimen, as a standard of comparison for all
future work. It matters little what species is taken ;

BONES. 17

whichever comes most convenient. Some familiar
mammal of fair size is the best. The dog is as good
as any, and easy to obtain. There ought never to
be any real difficulty in getting a suitable specimen.
If expense is no object, the simplest way is to get a
preparation, set up so as readily to take to pieces, at
any of the bone-preservers' shops in London. One
like this costs only a moderate sum, and is, of course,
the least trouble, although the manner in which
professionals prepare their bones is not altogether
satisfactory. But we may regard this as something
in the light of a luxury ; and it is not hard to prepare
one's own specimens, provided we do not mind a
little manipulation with unsavoury objects. I have
given hints as to the best method by which this may
be done in various pages of * Science-Gossip/ * Of
course, as one's work gets on, one needs further
specimens, but I do not think that anyone who
keeps his eyes open need be at a loss in this matter.
I have picked up several admirable bones ready
cleaned by the wind and weather, and many slightly
damaged ones may be got at naturalists' shops for
small sums, which are almost as good as the perfect
ones for an observer's purposes. Even single and
isolated bones are often very instructive.

But the first main point is that of getting the
* ' Science-Gossip ' for 1873, p. 39; for 1874, p. 226.

C

18 BONES.

forms, peculiarities, names, and positions of the
bones of one skeleton fully impressed on the student's
mind. As to the books which are to help him to do
this, it is very hard to know what to recommend.
As far as I know, there is no really luminous book
on osteology in existence. So far as learning the
names and peculiarities of the bones, nothing could
be better or more to the purpose than Flower's
* Osteology of the Mammalia ' ; but this treats only
of one class, and does not get beyond technical
description. The first and second volumes of
Owen's ' Comparative Anatomy of Vertebrates '
fill the gap the best of any, and yet these are by no
means what we really want. There is a good deal
about bones in Huxley's 'Anatomy of Vertebrated
Animals,' but in such a fragmentary and scattered
form as to be of little use. The fact is, the field is
yet open for an Osteological Manual. Much has
been written on the subject. Pages of precise and
accurate description, beautiful and artistic sheets of
plates of bones without number, can be seen in any
scientific library. But this is only half the matter.
We want to advance a step farther. It is the
relation between structure and function which needs
working out.

When a new bone finds its way into the student's
hands, he observes some peculiarity in shape or

BONES. 19

structure in which it differs from the bones he is
already acquainted with; the question naturally
occurs to him, Why does this bone assume one
shape in one animal, and in another is modified into
a different form ? He may look in vain in his books
for an answer to his query. And yet it is points
like these which, in my opinion, make up the true
science of Osteology. It is through careful, con-
stant, and intelligent observation, that these enigmas
are to be solved. Observation, indoors and out;
close attention to the habits of the animal in ques-
tion, on the one hand, and careful consideration of
its anatomical peculiarities, on the other.

Let me give an instance of this, first of all taking
it as an axiom that everything has been done with
a purpose. Take, then, the skull of a crocodile.
What do we find ? The orbits of the eyes, the
nasal orifice, the passages leading to the auditory
apparatus, all situated on a plane, along the upper
flattened surface of the head. What, then, is the
cause of this? Palpably to allow the crocodile to
remain submerged in the water, with its nose, eyes,
and ears just above the surface to warn him of the
approach of enemies or prey, and the rest of his
carcase securely hidden beneath the waters.

Take another instance. Observe the habits of
a mole. WTith what rapidity it burrows uuder-

c 2

20 BONES.

ground, shovelling away the earth with its fore feet-
Then look at its skeleton. We find just what we
should have expected. The bones of its fore legs of
astounding strength and breadth, furnished with
deep grooves, which, together with its sternum or
breastbone, which is furnished with a keel almost
like that of the sternum of a bird, afford attachment
to the powerful muscles. Its hind legs, being sim-
ply needed for locomotion, are of the normal size.
So, also, with the birds. The size of the keel of the
sternum varies in proportion to the powers of flight
which each species requires, for it is to the broad
surfaces of the sternum that the great wing-muscles
are attached. Take the skeleton of a humming-
bird, which spends its life almost upon the wing.
We find there a keel of so vast a size, that the re-
mainder of the skeleton is reduced to insignificance
in comparison. Of course, these instances that I
have given are all of the most obvious nature, but
they serve to show my meaning ; and the same line
of reasoning can, I am sure, be extended to all the
more minute points in osteological structure.

In these researches, one is soon struck by the
fact that in the modifications in various bones, or
sets of bones, in accordance with the habits of each
animal, the original type is never departed from,
only modified. See, for example, the paddle of a

BONES. 21

whale. More like the fin of a fish in general ap-
pearance, and yet the same set of bones which are
found in the arm of a man, are again found in an
adapted form in the paddle of the whale. So, also,
the fore leg of a horse preserves the same general
plan. What is generally called its knee is in,
reality its wrist. It is there that we find the little
group of bones which forms the carpus. All below
it answers to our hand — a hand consisting of one
finger.

Take even a wider instance. Compare the arm
of a man and the wing of a bird. Still greater
adaptations have taken place, and yet the plan
remains the same. We still find the clavicle or
collar-bone, the scapula or shoulder-blade, the
humerus, ulna, and radius, answering to the same
bones of our arm, a small carpus or wrist, and
finally the phalanges or fingers, simplified and
lengthened and anchylosed to form but one series of
bone, with the exception of a rudimentary thumb.
It is not uncommon to find a rudimentary bone like
this which in some allied species is fully developed.
The leg of the horse again gives us a very striking
example of this. There is, so to speak, only a
single finger, but we find, one on each side of this
single finger, two small bones, commonly known
only as splint-bones. These are the rudimentary

22 BONES.

traces of the same finger-bones, which in the rhino-
ceros are fully developed.

Now Osteology abounds in wonderful forms of
structure like these. It is a study pregnant with
pleasurable results, and is a real profitable study,
and one in which each fresh student may do real
solid work. It is all the little facts observed by
naturalists from time to time all over the world,
which on being collected together form the nucleus
of knowledge ; for indeed all the scientific knowledge
which we possess is little more than a nucleus, with
which we are supplied. The mere collector of
curious objects in no way furthers science. Plenty
of people have amassed beautiful collections of
insects interesting in their way, but of very tran-
sient interest if it goes no farther. The collector
possibly knows nothing at all of the wonderful
internal structure of the animals he preserves. His
insects are to him simply a mosaic — a collection of
pretty works of art. So also the shell-collector —
for I cannot call such a one as I describe a concho-
logist — has often, I believe, the most vague ideas of
what kind of animals they were that dwelt in the
cases he so carefully treasures, and his collection is
consequently of a dubious worth to him. Now, to
those who study the anatomy of the mollusc as
well as its shell, such a collection is full of the

BONES. 23

deepest interest. He has learnt from his dissections
that the habits of every variety of mollusc are
accompanied by a variety of structure, which occa-
sions a variety in the shape of the case which en-
velopes it. It all blends together, and forms a
harmonious whole. With a real love for science,
as doubtless some of these collectors have, one is-
sorry to see so much time and money wasted on a
pursuit which in their hands yields no fruit of any
worth. The work of the mere collector can only be
classed with that of the compiler of a stamp-album.
Whereas, collections of natural objects, combined
with intelligent study, are invaluable and almost
indispensable to the naturalist.

In Mr. Chivers's note on Preserving Animals,
No. 117 of ' Science-Gossip,' the following passage
occurs: — "The skeleton must be put in an airy place
to dry, but not in the sun or near the fire, as that
will turn the bones a bad colour." I cannot com-
prehend how this idea should have arisen. Perhaps
the most indispensable assistant to the skeleton pre-
parer is that very sun which Mr. Chivers warns him
against. The bleaching power of the rays of a hot
summer sun is astounding, and bones of the most
inferior colour can rapidly be turned to a beautiful
white by this means. It is for want of time and care
in following out this method that the professional

BONES.

skeleton preparers in London resort to the aid d
lime, which, although it makes them, white, is ter-
ribly detrimental to the bones themselves. In a
smoky city like London, the principle of sun-
bleaching would be hard to follow ; but so great is
its value, that more than once I have had valuable
specimens sent down to me in the country, by a com-
parative anatomist in London, to undergo a course of
sun-bleaching ; and a specimen which I have re-
ceived stained and blotched, I have returned of a
beautiful uniform white, a change entirely due to
that sun which we are told to beware of.

The question, How are skeletons to be prepared ?
is one which is repeatedly asked. People desire a
method by which with little trouble the flesh may
be removed from a specimen, and a beautiful skeleton
of ivory whiteness left standing in its natural posi-
tion. I can assure all such inquirers that this can-
not be accomplished by any method at all. The art
of preparing bones is a long, elaborate, and difficult
one, and he who wishes to become a proficient in it
must be alike regardless to the most unpleasant
odours, and to handling the most repulsive objects.
Mr. Chivers's receipt for the maceration of specimens
is about the best which one could have, only I should
not advise so frequent a change of the water. What
is needed is as rapid a decomposition of the flesh as

BONES. 25

is possible, and then the cleaning of the skeleton
just before the harder ligaments have also dissolved
But this requires very careful watching, and with
the utmost pains it is almost impossible to get a
skeleton entirely connected by its own ligaments.

Another point which must be taken into consider-
ation is this : What use is to be made of the spe-
cimens after they are prepared ? Are they for
purposes of real study, or simply as curious objects
to look at? If the latter is the purpose, I must
confess I do not think they are worth the trouble
of preparing. If the former is the object for which
they are intended, then I think no care or pains are
thrown away. But for the real student of Osteology
the separated bones, as a rule, are far more valuable
than those which are connected. He needs one or
two set up for purposes of reference, but the great
bulk of his specimens should be separate bones.
Osteology is one of the most delightful branches
of comparative anatomy, and one not very hard to
master. Let anyone try the experiment by getting
together a few bones — and those from the rabbit
or the partridge we have had for dinner are by no
means to be despised — and then, by purchasing
Flower's 'Osteology of the Mammalia,' which is a,
cheap and first-rate book, he will learn what the
study of the skeleton really is. And then let him

26 BONES.

be on the look-out for specimens of all kinds on
all occasions, bringing home all suitable objects he
meets with in his walks, however unsavoury they
may be, and he will be astonished to find how many
specimens he will get together in the course of a
year. I have now myself upwards of seventy skulls
of various kinds, with often the rest of the skeleton
as well, the greater part of which were gradually
collected, by keeping constantly on the watch for
them, within a year and a half.

BIRDS' EGGS. 27

III.

BIRDS' EGGS.

BY THOMAS SOUTHWELL, F.Z.S., ETC.

I CAN imagine no branch of natural history more
fascinating in its nature, or more calculated to attract
the attention of the young, than the study of the
nests and eggs of birds ; the beauty of the structure
of the one, and of the form and colour of the others,
cannot fail to excite wonder and admiration; and
the interest thus excited, if rightly directed, may,
and indeed has, in many instances, lead to the de-
velopment of that passionate love for all nature's
works, that careful and patient spirit of investigation,
and that deep love for truth which should all be
characteristics of the true naturalist. Who can look
back upon the days, perhaps long passed away, when
as a school-boy he wandered through the woods and
fields, almost every step unfolding to him some new
wonder, some fresh beauty — glimpses of a world of
wonders only waiting to be explored — who can look
back to such a time without feeling that in those
wanderings there dawned upon his mind a source of
happiness which in its purity and intensity ranks

28 BIRDS' EGGS.

high amongst those earthly pleasures we are per-
mitted to enjoy, and which has influenced him for
good in all the changes which have since come upon
him, lightening the captivity of the sick room, and
adding fresh brightness to the enjoyments of health.

Between the true naturalist and the mere "col-
lector " there is a wide gap, and I trust that none for
whom I am writing will allow themselves to drift into
the latter class ; the incalculable mischief wrought by
those who assist in the extermination of rare and
local species by buying up every egg of a certain
species which can be obtained, for the mere purpose
of exchange, cannot be too much deprecated, •< nd I
hope that none of my readers will be so guilty ; to
them the pleasures of watching the nesting habits
of the bird, the diligent search and the successful
find are unknown; the eggs in such a cabinet are
mere egg-shells, and not objects pregnant with in-
terest, recalling many a happy ramble, and many
a hardly-earned reward in the discovery of facts and
habits before unknown. Every naturalist must be
more or less a collector, but the naturalist should
always be careful of drifting into the collector, his
note-book and his telescope should be his constant
and harmless companions.

When the writer first commenced his collection,
the mode of preparing the specimens for the cabinet
was very rude indeed, and the method of arranging

BIRDS EGGS. 29.

equally bad ; he is sorry to say the popular books
upon the subject which he has seen do not present
any very great improvement ; in giving the results
of his own experience, and the plan pursued by the
most distinguished oologists of the day, who have
kindly allowed him to explain the methods they
adopt, he will, he trusts, save not only much useless
labour, but many valuable specimens.

Before saying a word as to preparing specimens for
the cabinet, I wish to impress upon the young oolo-
gist the absolute necessity for using the greatest
care and diligence in order satisfactorily to identify,
beyond possibility of doubt, every specimen, before
he admits it to his collection. Without such pre-
cautions, what might otherwise be a valuable col-
lection is absolutely worthless; and it is better to
have a small collection of authentic specimens than
a much larger one, the history of which is not per-
fectly satisfactory ; in fact, it is a good rule to banish
from the cabinet every egg which is open to the
slightest doubt. There are some eggs which, when
mixed, the most experienced oologist will find it
impossible to separate with certainty, and which
cannot be identified when once they are removed
from the nest.

The difficulties in the way of authentication are
by no means slight, but space will not allow me to
dwell upon them ; the most ready means, however.

30 BIRDS' EGGS.

is that of watching the old bird to the nest, although
even in this, as the collector will find by experience,
there is a certain liability to error. In collecting
abroad it will be found absolutely necessary (how-
ever reluctant we may be to sacrifice life) to pro-
cure one of the parents with the nest and eggs. As
we are writing for beginners at home, we trust such
a measure will rarely be necessary; but that an
accurate knowledge of the appearance of the bird,
its nesting habits, the situation, and the materials
of which the nest is composed, will be found amply
sufficient to identify the eggs of our familiar birds.
This knowledge of course is only to be obtained by
patient and long observation ; but it is just by such
means that the student obtains the practical in-
sight into the habits and peculiarities of the objects
of his study, together with the careful and exact
method of recording his observations, which even-
tually enables him to take his place amongst the
more severely scientific naturalists whom he desires
to emulate.

I will first describe the tools required, and then
proceed to the mode of using them.

Figs. 4 and 5 are drills used for making the hole
in the side of the egg, from which the contents
are discharged by means of the blowpipe, Fig. 6.
Fig. 4 has a steel point, brass ferrule, and ebony

BIRDS EGGS.

31

Fig. 4. Fig. 5.

handle, and may be used for eggs up to the size of
the wood-pigeon's ; Fig. 5 is all steel, the handle
octagonal, to give a firm hold to the fingers in
turning it, and may be used for eggs from the size
of the wood-pigeon's upwards. The
points of both are finely cut like
the teeth of a file, as shown in the
woodcut. The blowpipe, Fig. 6, is
about 5J inches in length (mea-
sured along the curve), and is made
of German silver, which from its
cleanliness, lightness, and freedom
from corrosion, will be found the
most suitable : it should be light
and tapering, and with a ring at the
upper ei d to prevent it from slip-
ping out of the mouth when used.
A piece of thin wire, Fig. 7, should
be kept in the tube when not in use,
to prevent it from becoming stopped
up by any foreign substance. A
common jeweller's blowpipe may be
used for large eggs, such as those of
gulls and ducks. Fig. 8 is a small
glass bulb-tube, which may be used
for sucking out the contents of very delicate eggs,
and other purposes, which will be explained here-

32

BIRDS EGGS.

Fig. 6. Fig. Y.

Glass Bulb-tube,
for sucking eggs.

German-silver
Blowpipe.

Wire for unstop-
ping ditto.

BIKDS' EGGS. 33

after. The small drill and blowpipe may be carried
inside the cover of the note-books.

The sooner a fresh egg is emptied of its contents
after it is taken from the nest the better. This
should be done by making a hole in the side with
the drill (choosing the side which is least conspicu-
ously marked) by working it gently backwards and
forwards between the forefinger and thumb, and
taking great care not to press too heavily, or the egg
will burst with the outward pressure of the drill : a
very small hole will generally be found sufficient.
When this is done, take the egg in the left hand
with the hole doivnwards, introduce the blowpipe,
by blowing gently through which, the contents may
soon be forced out. Water should then be intro-
duced by means of a syringe or the bulb-tube,
which may be filled and blown into the egg. After
shaking, blow the water out again by means of the
blowpipe ; repeat this till the egg is free from any
remains of the yolk or white : should the egg not be
quite fresh, it will require more washing. Care
should be taken to wet the surface of the egg as
little as possible. After washing the interior, lay
the egg, with the hole downwards, on a pad of
blotting-paper to drain till it is quite dry. Should
the eggs be much incubated, I should recommend
that the old birds be left to complete their labour

D

34 BIRDS' EGGS.

of love ; but a valuable egg may be made available
by carefully cutting a piece out of the side, extract-
ing the young one, and, after replacing the piece of
shell with strong gum-water, covering the join with
a slip of very thin silk-paper, which may be tinted
so as to resemble the egg, and will scarcely be
noticed. This is a very rough way of proceeding,
however, compared with Professor Newton's plan of
gumming several thicknesses of fine paper over the
side of the egg to strengthen it, through which the
hole is drilled : the young chick is then cut into
small pieces by means of suitable instruments, and
the pieces removed with others :* the paper is then
damped and removed from the egg.

The old plan of making two holes in the side of
the egg is very objectionable : a hole at each end is
still worse. Many eggs would be completely spoiled
by washing ; none improved. There is no necessity
for washing at all, except such as are very filthy,
and these eggs (which you may be sure are not
fresh) are not such as should be willingly accepted as
specimens: a little dirt only adds to the natural
appearance of the egg ; washing in most cases cer-

* "Suggestions for forming Collections of Birds' Eggs." By
Professor Newton. Written for the Smithsonian Institution of
Washington, and republished by Newman, 9, Devonshire Street,
Bishopsgate.

BIRDS' EGGS. 3c

tainly does not. Never use varnish to the shell ; ii
imparts a gloss which is not natural : all eggs should
not have a polished appearance like those of the
Woodpecker. Should the yolk be dried to the side
of the egg, a solution of carbonate of soda should
be introduced: let it remain till the contents are
softened, then blow out and wash well. Great care
must be taken not to allow the solution to come in
contact with the outside of the egg. Having blown
the egg, and allowed the inside to become quite dry,
procure some thin silk-paper gummed on one side,
and with a harness-maker's punch cut out a number
of little tickets suitable to the size of the hole in the
egg, moisten one of these, and place it with the gum
side downwards over the hole, so as to quite cover
it ; cover the ticket with a coat of varnish, which
will render it air-tight and prevent its being aifected
by moisture. The egg thus treated will have all the
appearance of a perfect specimen, and if kept from
the light will suffer very little from fading.

The note-book has been mentioned. This should
be a constant companion ; nothing should be left to
memory. When an egg is taken, a temporary pencil
number should at once be placed upon it, and this
number should correspond with the number attached
to an entry in the note-book, describing the nest (if
not removed), its situation, number of eggs, day of

~

3t> BIRDS' EGGS.

month, and any other particular of interest. When
the egg is ready for the cabinet, as much of this
information (certainly, name, date, and locality)
should be indelibly marked upon it as conveniently
can be done (neatly, of course, and on the under
side) ; also the number referring to the collector's
general list of his collection, into which the im-
portant parts of the entry from the note-book should
be copied. Never trust to gummed labels, which
are always liable to come off ; by writing the neces-
sary particulars upon the egg itself there can be no
confusion or mistake. Most collectors have their
own plan of cataloguing their collection. I have
adopted the following, which I find to answer very
well. Obtain a blank paper book the size of common
letter-paper, rule a horizontal line across the centre
of each page, and make a complete list of British
birds, placing only two names on each page, one at
the head of each division, prefixing a progressive
number to each name : this number is to agree with
that marked on the egg of the species named. Then
follow the locality whence the egg came, by whom
taken (if not by myself), or how it came into my
possession, with any other particular worthy of note.
With all eggs received in exchange or otherwise,
this note should, if possible, be obtained in the
handwriting of the person from whom they are re-

BIRDS EGGS. 37

ceivecl, and the slip on which it is written be affixed
in the book under the number. When specimens of
the eggs of the same species are obtained from
various localities, those from each locality should be
distinguished by a letter prefixed to the number.
The plan will be better understood by referring to
the following extract :

62. GREAT SEDGE-WARBLER (Sylvia turtoidcs, Meyer).

62. Keceived of , from the cabinet of Mr. .

a62. Taken by , a servant of , on the banks of the river

Tongreep, near Valkenswaard, in the south of Holland,
on the 9th of June, 1855. The birds may be heard a long
way oft' by their incessant " Kara, Kara, Kara." A few
years ago not one was to be found near Valkeuswaard.

A. B

662. Bought at Antwerp in August, 1865.

118. MEALY BED-POLE (Fringilla borealis, Tern.).

118. Nyborg, at the head of Msesk Fjord (one of the two
branches into which Varanger Fjord divides), East
Fiumark, Norway, July, 1855. The birds were very
plentiful, and only one species seen, which appears
quite identical with that which visits England every
winter.

C. D. E

By means of these entries, and the corresponding
number on the egg, mistakes are impossible, and the
name and history of each egg would be quite as well
known to a stranger as to the possessor. It needs
not to be said that this catalogue is replete with the

38 BIRDS' EGGS.

deepest interest to its compiler. In it he sees
the record of many a holiday trip and many a suc-
cessful find. Some of the entries in my own register
— the earliest date back five-and-twenty years — are
memorials of companions long since dead, or sepa-
rated by rolling oceans, but on whose early friendship
it is a pleasure to dwell.

Nothing can be more vexatious and disappointing
than the receipt of a box of valuable eggs in a
smashed or injured condition from want of care or
knowledge of the proper method of packing. A
simple method is recommended by Professor Newton,
which, from experience, I can confidently recom-
mend : — Roll each egg in tow, wool, or some elastic
material, and pack them closely in a stout box,
leaving no vacant place for them to shake; or a
layer of soft material may be placed at the bottom
of the box, and upon it a layer of eggs, each one
wrapped loosely in old newspaper ; upon this another
layer of wool or moss, then again eggs, and packing
alternately until the box is quite full. Bran, saw-
dust, &c., should never be used ; and it should be
ascertained that the box is quite filled, so that no
shaking or settlement can occur.

Almost every collector has his own plan for con-
structing his cabinet, and displaying his collection

BIRDS' EGGS. 39

The beginner, if left to himself, will find it a matter
of no small difficulty, and many will be the changes
before he arrives at one at all satisfactory. Mr.
Osbert Salvin has invented a plan which I think as
near perfection as it is possible to arrive at, and
through his kindness I am enabled to give a brief
description of it. In the first place, his cabinets are
so constructed that the drawers, of different depths,
are interchangeable. This is effected by placing the
runners, which carry the drawers, at a fixed distance
from each other and making the depth of each drawer
a multiple of the distance between the runners.
For example : if the runners are three-quarters of an
inch off each other, then let the drawers be 1J, 2J,
3, 3J-, 4J, &c., inches deep. All these drawers will
be perfectly interchangeable, and a drawer deep
enough to hold an ostrich's egg can in a few moments
be placed amongst those containing warblers' : every
requirement of expansion and rearrangement will be
vastly facilitated, involving none of those radical
changes so worrying to a collector.* Mr. Salvin's
plan of arranging the eggs is equally simple, and
admits of any amount of change with very little
trouble. Each drawer is divided longitudinally by

* Of course, cabinets thus constructed will be found equally con-
venient for collections of bird-skins, fossils, &c.

40 BIRDS EGGS.

thin slips of wood into three or more parts, about
4 to 6 inches across, as may be convenient ; a number
of sliding stages are then constructed of cardboard,
by cutting the cardboard half through, at exactly
the width of the partition, and bending the sides down
to raise the stage to the required height. A section
of one of these stages will be seen in Fig. 9, and the

Section of Sliding Stage.

arrangement in the drawer at Fig. 10. A number ol
oval holes are then to be cut by hand, or with a
wadding-punch of suitable size (altered in shape by
hammering), and a thin layer of cotton-wool gummed
on the upper surface of the stage : the holes, of
course, should be suitable in size to the egg they are
intended to receive. Between these stages sliding
partitions must be placed : these should be made of
just sufficient height that the horizontal part may
fit closely on the wool, as shown at Fig. 9. These
partitions should be made of thin wood for the

BIRDS EGGS.

41

upright part, along which a horizontal strip of card-
board is to be fastened with glue, on which is to be
placed a label bearing the name of the species of

. 10.

Cabinet Drawer on Mr. Salvin's plan.

egg displayed on the stage, as seen in Fig. 10. All
this will be better understood by referring to the
figures.

Fig. 9 represents a longitudinal section of one of

42

BIRDS EGGS.

the stages in its place, with the ends of the two next ;.
1, showing the cardboard stage ; 2, the cotton-wool ;,
3, the sliding partition ; and 4, the horizontal slip
of cardboard to carry the label.

Fig. 10 represents one of the drawers on Mr.
Salvin's plan : it is divided into three parts (1, 2, 3)
by fixed partitions. No. 1 is represented empty ;
No. 2 with the specimens arranged ; No. 3 with two
stages and two of the movable partitions.

This may appear very complicated at first sight,
but a few trials will be sufficient to master the
details, and the result will be very beautiful if neatly
carried out. The eggs are well shown, not liable to
fall out of their places, and it is very little trouble
to alter the arrangement, every part being movable.
Each drawer should be covered by a sheet of glass to
exclude dust.

Mr. Salvin's cabinet is an excellent one for hold-
ing the nests of birds, which should be removed with
as little damage as possible, and placed in the
drawers, under cover of glass. Great care must be
taken to keep them free from moth, to which they
are very liable ; for this purpose they should be
dressed with the solution of corrosive sublimate.

The young collector should remember that what
is worth doing at all is worth doing well, and that
the care bestowed upon his cabinet is not labour in

BIRDS EGGS.

vain ; habits of exactness and precision of arrange-
ment are absolutely necessary if he would make the
best use of the materials which come in his way ;
and, above all, never let him degenerate into the
mere collector : his collection should be for use, and
not merely ornamental.

44 BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS.

IV.

BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS.
BY DR. HENRY KNAGGS.

THE collector of Lepidoptera who aspires to success
must read the book of nature as he runs. If he
have not the wit to note and turn to account each
little fact which may come under his observation,
neither he nor science will be the better for his
collecting. He should, whenever he makes a
•capture, know the reason why, or he will never make
a successful hunter. He should be ever on the alert :
his motto, nunquam dormio.

Some collect for profit, others for pastime ; but
the aim of our readers, I take it, is not only to
-acquire a collection of really good specimens, but
also at the same time to improve their minds ; and
the best way of effecting this purpose is to hunt the
perfect insect, not so much for itself as for the sake
of the golden eggs, which, with proper care and
-attention, will in due course yield the most satis-
factory results in the shape of bred specimens.

This being the case, and space being limited, it

BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS. 45

seems best to simply touch upon the preliminary
stages of insect existence, pointing out as we ga
those methods of collecting and preserving which
experience has shown to be the most successful.

There can be no doubt but that egg-hunting is a
very profitable occupation, and far more remunera-
tive than most people dream of, particularly as a
means of acquiring the Sphinges, Bombyces, and
Pseudo-bombyces. Eggs, speaking generally, are
to be found on the plants to which the various
species are attached ; and a knowledge of the time
during which the species remains in the egg state,,
as well as the appearance of the eggs as deposited
in nature, should if possible be acquired previous to-
proceeding to hunt. The most practical way of as-
certaining the food and time is to watch the parent
insect in the act of depositing her ova; but when
the plant has been thus discovered, the best way is
to capture her, and induce her to lay at our home.
When eggs are inconspicuous, of small dimensions,
or artfully concealed, the use of a magnifyiog glass
is invaluable.

Eggs may be preserved by plunging them in
boiling water or piercing them with a very fine
needle, or they may have their contents squeezed
out and be refilled by means of a fine blowpipe, with

46 BUTTEEFLIES AND MOTHS.

some coagulable tinted fluid ; but the shells them-
selves, after the escape of the larvae, form, when
mounted, beautiful objects for the microscope.

The three most successful plans of obtaining
caterpillars are searching, beating, and sweeping.
The first requires good eyesight and a certain
amount of preparatory knowledge ; the others are a
sort of happy-go-lucky way of collecting, useful
enough and profitable in their way, but affording a
very limited scope for the exercise of the wits. In
searching for larvae, the chief thing is to observe the
indications of their presence. A mutilated leaf, a
roughened bark, a tumid twig, a sickly plant, an
unexpanded bud, an abortive flower, or a windfall
fruit, should at once set us thinking as to the cause ;
or, again, the webs, the silken threads, the burrow-
ings and trails, or the cast-off skins of larvae, may
first call our attention to their proximity. Of course,
larvae may be found on almost all plants, as well as
in the bark, stems, or wood of many ; but the col-
lector should fortify himself with a knowledge of
what each plant is likely to produce, and hunt ac-
cordingly ; for though indiscriminate collecting may
sometimes be successful, it does not tend to improve
the intellectual powers.

Beating is the more applicable method of working
trees and bushes. It is carried out by jarring the

BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS.

47

larvae from their positions by the aid of a stick or
pole, in such a manner that they will fall into an
inverted umbrella, or net ; or a sheet may be spread
beneath for their reception. Sweeping with a strong
net, passed from side to side with a mower-like
movement, is better adapted for working low ground-
herbage. The umbrella net, shown in Fig. 11, is,
perhaps, the best for the purpose. It is constructed

Fig. 11.

UmbreHa Xet,

by hinging two lengths of jack-spring on two pieces
of brass, and adapting them to the stick of the net,
the upper piece of brass being fixed, the lower
movable.

When captured, lame should be transferred to

48 BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHfc.

chip boxes, or else to finely and freely perforated
tins, the latter better preserving the food. A very
handy box for the purpose is formed by fitting a
second lid on to the bottom of a chip box, and then
cutting from the second lid and bottom a hole, as
shown in Fig. 12 (2) ; larvae may then be inserted

through the hole ; but
Fis- 12- when the lid is shifted

round, and the holes are
not opposite, of course
there will be no opening,
as in Fig. 12 (1), and the
Collecting Box for Larva. < contents are secured from

escape.

Larva preserving is carried out by first killing, and
then squeezing and extracting the contents through
the anal orifice by means of a crochet hook.

When this has been done, the skin is inflated, but
not to such an extent as to distend the segments,
and is kept thus inflated while it is being dried in a
heated metal chamber. Afterwards, if the colours
are observed to have faded, they may be cautiously
restored by the application of paint. These objects,
mounted on suitable artificial leaves, are then ready
for the cabinet.

Chrysalis collecting is conducted according to
the situation of the object sought. Some are to be

BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS. 4^

found in the chinks of bark or under loose bark,
which may be detached by means of a powerful
lever. Some are suspended from trees, bushes,
copings, hanging head downwards, or girded by
silken threads to low plants or walls ; others are to
be found in the stems or trunks of their food-
plants ; many are concealed in cocoons of more or
less perfect construction, others again amongst
fallen leaves, but the majority are to be met with
under the surface of the ground ; in which case we
shall have to dig for them by the aid of a trowel or
broad chisel. The best situations for subterranean
pupae are open park-like fields, borders of streams,
open spaces in fir woods, and they are usually situ-
ated within a foot or so of the tree trunks, at the
depth of two or three inches, though sometimes
considerably deeper. Of course both larvae and
pupae of aquatic species will have to be sought for
in their element, among the plants they frequent.

Chrysalis preserving is a simple matter : the
pupae may be killed by plunging them into hot
water or by baking; frequently, however, we find
that the natural polish disappears with death, and
this may be restored by varnishing. It is advisable
that the cocoons also, where practicable, should be
preserved, to give a notion of their appearance in
nature.

E

50 BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS.

Moths and butterflies may be sought for at rest
or on the wing. They may be disturbed from their
hiding places or they may be attracted by various
alluring baits.

At rest on stems of grasses and other plants
butterflies may be taken on dull, sunless days ; but
it requires some experience to detect a butterfly with
its wings raised up over its back : the little "Blues"
may thus be freely boxed in their localities. Again,
such butterflies as hybernate may be found in old
sheds and outhouses, or under stacks.

Moths may be taken at rest on tree trunks,
palings, and walls, or amongst foliage and ground
herbage. Some species are to be freely captured
in this way after their evening flight is over. Of
course, for evening work, a lantern to assist our
vision will be indispensable.

On the wing, some butterflies are exceedingly
active, others comparatively sluggish ; some fly
high, others low. In hunting them, the chief points
to be remembered are not to alarm, but rather
cautiously to stalk our game, and strike, when we
have an opportunity, with precision. It is impor-
tant also to avoid throwing a shadow over them,
and it is a good plan to get to windward of them —
anything like flurry will be fatal to success.

Moths which fly by day may be chased in the

BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS. 51

same manner, but some may be observed disporting
themselves round trees ; these must be watched, and
netted as they now and then descend. Others fly
at a very low altitude, and are only brought into the
field of vision by our assumption of the recumbent
position. At night again, though we watch for any-
thing stirring the air, among the trees or the herbage,
our tactics are somewhat modified ; for, if the insect
be of whitish colour, we should so place ourselves
that its form will stand boldly out against a mass of
dark foliage, whereas, if it be dingy in hue, we must
iake the sky for our background.

Disturbing insects, and thus causing them to start
forth, and so render themselves visible, is another
method of collecting. This is carried out in various
ways.

First, the occupants of high trees may be expelled
by jarring the trunk with a heavily loaded mallet,
or by thwacking the trunk with a long hazel stick ;
but a sharp look-out must be kept, for some sham
death, and fall plump down, while others make off
as fast as they can. Other plans are to pelt the
trees with stones, or pump on them with a powerful
garden engine, or beat them with a long pole ; and
of all trees the most profitable for this purpose is the
yew ; though firs, oaks, beeches, and other trees are
not to be despised.

E 2

52 BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS.

For beating bushes there is nothing better than
a walking-stick, and for low herbage a long switch
passed quickly from side to side with a tapping
movement is best adapted. The tenants of tree
trunks may be disturbed by brushing the surface
with a leafy little bough, or, better still, by the use
of a strong fan, with which a powerful blast may be
driven, the net being held in such a position as to
intercept such insects as are blown oif.

Thatch-beating in the autumn is a very profitable
employment, particularly in the matter of Depres-
sarite. Sweeping need only be mentioned here, for
moths collected by the process are anything but
perfect insects.

There are various methods of attracting moths and
butterflies. The first is effected by confining a virgin
female in a muslin cage, the frame
Fig. is. 0£ whjcn may be very readily formed

by bending three pieces of cane into
circles, and fixing these together at
right angles, as shown in Fig. 13.
When this baited cage is placed in a
virg, L°ePS$£ favourable position, and the weather
is propitious for the flight of the
males, the latter will, in some cases, congregate, and
may be freely captured.

Then, the food-plant of the species is an attraction

BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS.

53

at which we stand the best chance of procuring im-
pregnated females.

Various kinds of blooms possess alluring qualities
for insects : of these, sallow and ivy are the greatest
favourites with collectors. They should be worked
after dusk by means of a lantern and net ; but the
combination of a lantern fixed to a long stick, with a

Fig. U.

Lantern and Net.

shallow net beneatli and a little in advance of it, as
shown in the cut, is the apparatus best adapted for
the purpose ; the object of the net being to intercept
any insects which may happen to fall under the
stimulus of light. These attractions should be first
well searched over, and afterwards, a sheet (split if
necessary) having been carefully spread below the
bushes, a gentle shaking should be administered.
-Besides these blossoms, heather, ragwort, bugloss,

54 BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS.

eatchfly, bramble, various grasses, and a vast number
of other flowers, are wonderfully attractive. In
working patches of bloom we should remain sta-
tionary and strike as the visitors arrive. Again,,
over-ripe fruit, the juicy buds of certain trees, sap
exuding from wounds in trees, are all more or less
attractive. The secretion of aphides, commonly
called honeydew, observable in hot seasons on the
leaves of nettles and various other plants and trees,
is also well worth attention, and is at times very
productive of insects.

Sugaring is the next attraction, and a very im-
portant one it is. "Sugar" may be prepared by
boiling up equal quantities of coarse " foots " sugar
and treacle in a sufficient quantity of stale beer, a
small quantity of rum being added previous to use,
and also, if considered advisable, a flavouring of jar-
gonelle pears, anise-seed, or ginger-grass. This
mixture should be applied by means of a small paint
brush to the trunks of trees, to foliage, flowers, tufts
of grass, or indeed to any object which may present
a suitable surface ; for in some localities we are put
to shift to know where to spread our sweets. This
operation should be performed just before dusk,,
and soon afterwards the baited spots should be visited
and, by the aid of a lantern gently turned on them,
examined, a net being- held beneath the while. The-

BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS. 55

best form of net for the purpose is formed by socket-
ing two paragon wires into a Y-piece and connecting
their diverging extremities by a piece of catgut, as
shown in Fig. 15. The catgut, being flexible, will
adapt itself (see the dotted line) to the surface of a
tree trunk when pressed against it. With regard to
insects captured at sugar, they are usually remark-

Fig. 16.

Box with linen joints.

Net for sugaring.

ably quiet, and may be boxed without difficulty, and,
with a few exceptions, may be conveyed home in the
boxes, care being taken to let each have a separate
apartment. The boxes should be strengthened with
strips of linen pasted round the joints, as shown in
Fig. 16, otherwise accidents may occur, particularly
on wet evenings or on rough ground. The skittish

•56 BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS.

iDdividuals may be best captured by means of the
.sugaring drum, of which a cut is given in Fig. 17.
This apparatus consists of a cylinder, one end of
which is covered with gauze, the other provided
with a circular valve, which works in a slic. For
use, the valve is opened and the cylinder placed over

Sugaring Drum.

the insect, which naturally flies towards the gauze ;
then the valve is closed, the corked piston, shown at
the upper part of the cut, placed against it, the valve
re-opened, the piston pushed up to the gauze, the
insect pinned through the gauze, and the piston
withdrawn with the insect transfixed to it.

Light is another most profitable means of attract-

BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS. 57

ing. The simplest way is to place a powerful mode-
rator lamp upon a table in front of an open window
which faces a good locality, and then wait net in
hand for our visitors, which usually make their
appearance late in the evening, and continue to
arrive until the small hours. Those who prefer
it can use the American moth-trap, which is self-
acting, detaining such insects as may enter its
portals, or those who can afford the space may fit
up a room on the same principle. Street lamps are
very profitable certain localities, and amply
reward the collector who perseveringly and minutely

Fig. 13

Cyauide Bottle and Ferrule.

examines them. The apparatus depicted in Fig. 18
is very useful for taking off such insects as may be
on the glass of the lamp: it consists of a cyanide
bottle attached by a ferrule to the end of a suffi-
ciently long stick. When placed over an insect,

58 BUTTEEFLIES AND MOTHS.

stupefaction is quickly produced. A net of the
shape represented in Fig. 19 is also very useful for

getting at the various part&
Fig. 19. f , ,

ot the lamp.

The best methods of stu-
pefying and killing insects
on the field is the cyanide
bottle, prepared by placing
Lamp Net. alternate layers of cyanide

of potassium and blotting-
paper in the bottom of a wide-mouthed bottle, the
mouth of which is accurately stopped with a cover,
which is better for the purpose than a bung. The
chloroform bottle, which is generally made with a
p. 20 little nipple, through which the fluid flows
slowly out, and covered with a screw- tap, as
r\ in the cut 20, is also handy. The chloro-
: fl form should be dropped over perforations
in the box containing our patient, these
perforations having been previously made
by a few stabs of a penknife. After the
fluid is dropped, our thumb should cover

Chloroform it, when the vapour will quickly enter, and'
the inmate speedily become insensible.
Afterwards the coup de grace may be given to the
insect by pricking it under the thorax with the nib
of a steel pen dipped in a saturated solution of oxalic

BUTTERFLIES AM) MOTHS. 59

acid. If we are smokers, a puff of tobacco may be
blown into the box with like result. If we are desti-
tute of any apparatus, and brimstone lucifers for the
purpose of suffocating our captures under an inverted
tumbler cannot be obtained at some roadside inn, we
must fall back on the barbarous practice of pinching
the thoraces of such as cannot be carried home in
boxes. At home we shall find the laurel jar and
ammonia bottle the most useful. The former is
made by partially filling a large wide -mouthed
bottle or jar with cut and bruised dry leaves of
young laurel : if any dampness hang about them,
we shall have the mortification of seeing our speci-
mens become mildewed. The latter consists in
adding a few lumps of carbonate of ammonia, or
some drops of strong liquid ammonia, on a sponge,
to the bottle in which our captures, with each box
lid slightly opened, have been placed. But it must
be borne well in mind, firstly, that ammonia is in-
jurious to the colours of most green insects ; and
secondly, that if the specimens be not well aired
after having been thus killed, the pins with which
they are transfixed will become brittle and break.
Insects should be left in the ammonia for several
hours, and are then in the most delightful condition
for setting out.

To pin an insect properly is a most 'important

'60 BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS.

procedure. The moth, if of moderate dimensions
may be rested or held between the thumb and fore
finger of the left hand, while the corresponding
digits of the right hand operate by steadily pushing
a pin through the thorax, bringing it out between
the hind pair of coxae until sufficient of the pin i?
exposed beneath to steady the insect in the cabinet
The direction of the pin should be perpendicular
when the insect is viewed from the front, as in

Fig. 21 Fig. 22.

Front View of properly pinned Side View of ditto .

Insect.

Fig. 21 ; but a lateral view should show the pin
•slightly slanting forwards, as in Fig. 22. Pins made
for the purpose in numerous sizes are sold by Mr.
-Cooke, of New Oxford Street.

Setting out moths and butterflies is an operation
which, if skilfully performed, adds much to the
beauty of the future specimens. The method of
setting most popular is carried out by means of
saddles and braces. These so-called saddles are

BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS.

61

pieces of cork rounded as in the sectional figure, a
groove being cut out for the reception of the bodies
of the insects : they are generally strengthened by

Fig. 23.

Fig. 24.

Cork Saddle for setting out Insects.

a strip of wood, upon which they are glued. Braces^
are wredge-shaped pieces of card or thick note-
paper, the thick end strengthened, if necessary, with
a disc of card fixed by shoe-
makers' paste, and pierced with
a pin through it, as shown in
Fig. 24. The mode of applica-
tion of these appliances is beau-
tifully shown in Fig. 26.* Bui
before these straps can be applied,
the wings must first be got into
position by means of the setting
needle and setting bristle, which Braces for setting out.
are thus manipulated (the set-
ting bristle, by the way, being formed by fixing a.
cat's whisker and a pin into a piece of cork, at.

Figs. 26 and 27 have been kindly lent by Messrs. Reeve & Co.

62

BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS.

the angle shown in Fig. 25) : — After the insect is
straightly pinned upon the saddle, and the legs,

Fig. 25.

Setting Bristle.

antennae, and, if necessary, the tongue, got into
position, the left fore-wing is to be pushed or tilted
into its place by means of the setting needle, which

Moth set out on Cork Saddle.

is merely a darning needle with a handle ; and s'imul-
taneously it is to be held down by the bristle ; then
a small brace should be applied to the costa of

BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS. 63

the fore wing. Next the hind wing should in like
manner be adjusted, and as many braces as are
considered necessary to keep the wings in their place
should be added. Lastly, the right side of the insect
should be treated in a similar way.

A very useful mode of setting, invaluable when
we are destitute of saddles, is known as " four-strap "
setting, and is well explained in Fig. 27. In this

Fig. 27.

Four-strap setting.

<3ase the lower straps are first put into such a posi-
tion, that when the insect is placed over them the
middle of each of the cost£e will rest upon them ;
then the wings are got into position, and the second
pair of straps are applied over the wings, the latter
retaining their position through the elasticity of
their costse: two more straps are generally added
to secure the outer borders of the wings, as shown

6'4 BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS.

in the drawing; but these, though advantageous, are
not absolutely necessary. The saddles, with their
contents, should be kept in a drying house, which is
a box adapted for their reception, and freely ven-
tilated, until the specimens are thoroughly dry, when
the latter may be cautiously removed, and trans-
ferred to the collection.

To preserve our collection from decay, consider-
able care and attention is necessary. In the first
place no insect which is in. the least degree sus-
pected of being affected by mites, or mould, or
grease, should on any account be admitted to our
collections. It is best to be on the safe side and
submit every insect received from correspondents,
whether mity or not, to quarantine, by which is
meant their detention for a few weeks in a box the
atmosphere of which is impregnated with some va-
pour destructive to insect life ; such as that of
benzole. Our own specimens wre should kyanize
by touching the bodies of each with a camel's-hair
brush dipped in a solution of bichloride of mercury
of the strength six grains to the ounce of spirits of
wine, — no stronger.

As for mould, it is best destroyed by the appli-
cation of phsenic or carbolic acid, mixed with three
parts of ether or spirit. As preventives, the speci-
mens should be kyanized as above. Caution in the

BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS. 65

use of laurel as a killing agent must be exercised,
and the collection must be kept in a dry room.

Grease may be removed by soaking the insects in
pure rectified naphtha or benzole, even by boiling
them in it if necessary. When the bodies only are
greasy, they may be broken off, numbered, and
treated as above. After the grease is thoroughly
softened, ttye insects should be covered up in pow-
dered pipeclay or French chalk, which may be sub-
sequently removed by means of a small sable brush.
As a precaution against grease, it is advisable to
remove the contents of the abdomina by slitting up
the latter beneath with a finely pointed pair of
scissors before they are thoroughly dry, and packing
the cavities with cotton wool. The males, especially
of such species as have internal feeding larvas, should
be thus treated.

Some prefer to keep their collections in well-made
store boxes, which possess many advantages over the
cabinet ; for example, they may be kept like books
in a bookcase, the upright position rendering the
contents less liable to the attacks of mites ; they are
more readily referred to, and are more portable, and
they admit of our gradually expanding our collec-
tions to any extent. Cabinets, on the other hand,
are preferred by many, for the reasons that they are
compact and generally form a handsome article

F

66 BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS.

of furniture ; moreover, good cabinets are made
entirely of mahogany, which is the best wood for the
purpose ; deal, and other woods containing resinous
matter, having a decidedly injurious effect on the
specimens. As a preservative, there is, after all,
perhaps nothing better than camphor ; but it should
be used sparingly, or its tendency will be to cause
greasiness of the specimens.

BEETLES. 67

V.

BEETLES.
BY E. C. EYE, F.Z.S., ETC.

THE general rules, so ably expounded by Dr. Knaggs
in his instructions for collecting Lepidoptera, as to
constant alertness and making " the reason why "
the starting-point of investigation, apply with equal
force to the collector of Coleoptera, and need not
be here recapitulated. But they do not, in the
instance of the latter, require generally to be ob-
served, except as to the perfect state of beetles; for,
owing to the hidden earlier conditions of life of most
of those insects, and to the long period during which
these conditions exist, it is but seldom that the pur-
suit of rearing them, so universally and profitably
adopted by the Lepidopterist, is found of much use
to the collector of beetles. And this is very much
to be regretted ; because, in the majority of cases, if
the latter succeed in rearing a beetle from its earliest
stage, and keep proper notes of its appearance and
habits, he will probably be adding to the general
stock of knowledge, as the lives of comparatively
"* few, even of the commonest species, are recorded
from the beginning. It may be, also, in addition

p 9

68 BEETLES.

to the reasons above mentioned, for the usual want
of success attending the rearing of beetle larvae, that
the fact of bred specimens being frequently (from
the artificial conditions attending their development,
and from their not being allowed that length of
time which, in a state ot nature, they require after
their final change before they are ready to take an
active part in their last stage of life) not nearly so
good as those taken at large, militates considerably
against the more general use of this method of
adding to a collection. In this respect, of course,
the Lepidopterist is actuated by precisely opposite
motives ; as lor him, a bred specimen is immeasur-
ably superior to one captured. And the fact of so
few beetle larvse being known at all, or, if known,
only to the possessor of somewhat rare books, renders
it very likely that a mere collector, finding a con-
siderable expenditure of patience and trouble result
in the rearing ol a species of which he could at any
time readily procure any number of specimens, may
very probably abandon rearing for the future.

These observations, however, are not in the least
intended to dissuade anyone from breeding or en-
deavouring to breed beetles. On the contrary, it is
obvious from them that it is precisely by attend-
ing to these earlier stages that the earnest student
Cnovice or expert) has the most chance of distin-

BEETLES. 69

giiislring himself, on account of the more open field
for discovery. And in the instance of many small,
and especially gregarious, beetles, breeding from the
larvae is frequently very easy, if only the substances
(fungus, rotten wood, roots, stems of plants, &c.)
containing them be carefully left in precisely the
state as when found, and be exposed to the same
atmospheric or other important conditions. In fact,
to ensure success and good specimens, it is best that
in their early stages beetles should be " let alone
severely."

It may be here observed that we have been lately
in this country indebted to the minute observations
and great tact of some of our best students of Micro-
Lepidoptera (in which branch ot entomology we are
second to none in Europe) for some most interesting
additions to our knowledge of habits, and for long
series of beetles usually rare in collections.

Dismissing then the earlier stages of beetles, the
following observations will apply only to the imago,
or " beetle proper." And here I would repeat how
evident it is that the knowledge of " the reason
why" is especially indispensable to the beetle col-
lector, judging from the extreme rarity of the occur-
rence of any new or valuable insect in the stores of
a mere random collector or a beginner. For him,
no old hand detects an equivalent to Daplidice or La-

70 BEETLES.

thonia in his duplicate boxes ; whereas, among Lepi-
dopterists, " school-boy's luck " is proverbial. I can
give no reason for this statement, founded on my
own (by no means trifling) experience in the way of
examining specimens. And in this idea I think I
am corroborated by the very great rarity in old
collections and records of many species now uni-
versally common; the directions in older manuals,
as to looking under stones, on walls, paths, &c.,
pretty clearly showing that the majority of captures
in the olden time were what are now irreverently
designed as " flukes." Still, it is astonishing to what
good account a sharp observer may turn these casual
meetings, often to him resulting in the discovery of
" the reason why " as to the particular species acci-
dentally found, and to the correlative increase of his
collection. And, apart from captures during collect-
ing expeditions, good things will at times occur to
the alert entomologist: one, for instance, who will
startle his friends in the streets by suddenly swoop-
ing with his hat after an atom flying in the sunshine,
or who is not too proud to pick up another, racing on
the hot pavement, during those days of early spring,
when the insect myriads, revelling in warmth and
light, after their long winter's durance, may be seen
madly dashing about, even in towns : on such a day,
for instance, as that whereon a certain well-known

BEETLES. 71

doctor among the beetles found that living carabi-
deous gem Anchomenus sexpunctatus, far from its
native Sphagnum and heath, wandering on the flag-
stones of the W.C. district.

But, before referring to special modes of hunting,
it may be as well to mention the instrumenta belli
required for the equipment of the Coleopterist in
this country. These are but few, and of the simplest
kind ; indeed, in entomology, as in the gentle art of
angling, it is often the most roughly accoutred that
secures the best basket. The umbrella net, figured
at p. 47, used both for beating into and sweeping,
cannot be dispensed with, and a beating stick can
be cut out of the nearest hedge. The net itself
should be of fine "cheese cloth," or some strong
fabric that allows the passage of air, but not of
beetles; otherwise, if of too close a fibre, it is apt
to " bag " with the inclosed air, and reject its con-
tents during the operation of sweeping. The net
being of course used with the right hand, its left
top edge especially bears the brunt of the attendant
friction, and gets soon worn; it is consequently
advisable to have an outer strip of stout " leather-
cloth" sewn strongly over the rim there for some
little distance, extending that protection also to the
right top edge, though not for so long a space. The
curved handle of the stick should be sawn off as soon

72

BEETLES.

as possible ; it frequently catches in the pockets of
the sweeper, causing a jerk to the net, and dispersal
of its contents. For a similar reason, the ferruled
apex may well be removed. Some collectors keep
the sharp cutting edge of the spring sides of the net
uncovered, sewing the net itself to holes drilled at
intervals on the lower side of the springs : a net of
this kind cuts very close, and where there is much
herbage soon gets full of fragments, taking a long
time to examine. It will be found handy if the bag
of the net be cut to a point from the front towards
the handle side : this causes the contents to gravitate
to the bottom, as far as possible from the point where
the rim meets the substance swept.

A common umbrella (easily slung by a stout string
over the back when not in use) is an admirable (some
think, superior) substitute for this net, as it can be
held up higher by the ferrule, and tall bushes and
trees (of which the branches nearer the top are
usually most productive) can be beaten into it with
more certainty of their beetle contents being caught.
The steel frames will be found in the way when the
beetles are being bottled ; consequently, a good large
gingham may be consecrated to collecting, and its
inside (not merely the outer ribs) covered all over up
to the middle (leaving no aperture there if possible)
with thin white calico, stitched over the frame.

BEETLES. 73

Another good form of net for sweeping or dragging
in long grass or herbage, is of the common fishing
landing-net description, made of very stout wrought-
iron or steel wire, either in a simple hoop, if a mode-
rate size only be required, or with a single hinge to
fold into two, or with three such hinges, folding into
four, as may be desired. I have used one of these
four-folding nets for x years, and never found it fail.
One end is hammered out flat and perforated, the
other forming a male screw (1^ inch long), bent at
right angles with the body of the frame, passes
through the hole, and fits into a female screw in a
strong and long ferrule, fixed in the usual way to
the end of a stout oaken walking-stick. As the
power exerted in sweeping with such a net is great,
-and the action continuous, the simple screw is not
enough, and a small screw hole is drilled right
through the ferrule and the screw end of the net ;
a small thumb-screw, in shape like an old-fashioned
clock key, going transversely through both, and
effectually hindering lateral displacement. The
framework of the net and the ferrule are better made
of the same metal, because, if made of two metals of
different density, the stronger soon wears away the
weaker ; and the stick must be inserted deeply into
the ferrule, and held on with two deep pins or small
screws on opposite sides (not on the same level,

74 BEETLES.

however, as the wood is in that case weakened), one
being insufficient to stand the strain. The net, of
the same substance as that above mentioned, is made
with a loose "hem" to slip on the frame before
screwing it in the ferrule. A leather-cloth edging all
round is advisable, and the bag should be cut long
enough to prevent the possibility of the contents
jerking out. Another very good plan for securing
the frame to the ferrule is to have both ends of it
soldered together into a deep square-sided plug,
fitting into a corresponding square hole in the ferrule.
The small cross-screw or pin is here also to be used;
but the angles of the plug naturally keep a much
tighter hold than the worm of a screw. Such a
frame as this cannot, of course, be folded.

For water beetles, a similar net to that last men-
tioned is effective, but it should be stouter and with a
flat front, for dredging closely against the sides and
bottoms of ponds. The best substance for its bag is
fine sampler canvas ; and a very large, stout bamboo
cane is at once light and strong for its stick. To
avoid friction the bag may be affixed to small wire
rings let into holes on the lower edge of the frame,
or running on the frame itself.

A sieve is one of the most remunerative imple-
ments, and may be procured either simple or folding.
It consists of a stout wire-framed circle, connected

BEETLES. 75

by a strong linen band, six inches deep, with the
bottom of an ordinary wire sieve, the meshes of which
are wide enough to allow any beetle to pass through.
Leaves, grass, flood refuse, ants' nests materials, cut
grass, seaweed, haystack and other debris, are roughly
shaken in this over a sheet of brown paper, which
should invariably form part of a Coleopterist's appa-
ratus. A stout piece of double waterproof material
may be substituted ; and, in marsh collecting, must
be used as a kneeling pad.

For ordinary bark collecting, a strong ripping
chisel (of which the blade is well collared, so as not
to slip) is as useful a tool as can be procured ; but
for real tree working, no ordinarily portable instru-
ment is thoroughly effective. Light steel hammers
with a lever spike may delude the collector ; but a
woodman's axe, a saw, a pickaxe or crowbar, will often
be found not too strong. For cutting tufts, &c., a
strong garden pruning-knife is good, and an old fixed-
handled dinner-knife (carried in a sheath) better.
For holding the results of the operation of these
instruments, the collector needs but one or two
collecting bottles — one rather small and circular, of
as clear and strong glass (not cast) as can be got,
with a wide mouth and flat bottom. Its neck should
not slope, but be of even width, or the cork will often
get out of itself. This cork should be a deep one,.

76 BEETLES.

and be perforated longitudinally by a stout and large
round quill, the bottom of which should be level with
the bottom of the cork, the top projecting some inch
and a half, with the upper orifice not cut off straight,
but slightly sloped diagonally, so as more easily to
scoop up beetles from the net or hand. It is closed
with an accurately fitting, soft, wooden plug, rather
longer than the quill, reaching exactly to the bottom
of it, but with its top projecting above the top of the
quill, and broader than it, so as to be easily pulled
out by the teeth when the hands are occupied. The
bottle should be secured by stout twine to the
buttonhole, enough play being left for it to reach
the net in any ordinary position. I usually secure
the external junction of quill and cork with red
sealing-wax, and have more than once found the
bright red catch my eye when I have lost my bottle.
[N.B. This loss will always happen to every collector ;
generally after a peculiarly lucky day's work : so use
the string-preventive.] The body of the bottle may
usefully be half covered with white paper gummed
on. A few stout, plain glass tubes, papered in
like way, and with plain corks, should be carried for
special captures ; and a cyanide bottle,* as mentioned

* " Killing bottles," containing cyanide of potassium under a
layer of gypsum, may be bought at most natural-history apparatus
dealers, and are useful as relaxing depots.

BEETLES. 77

at p. 57, or one containing bruised and shredded
young laurel shoots, will be found useful for safely
bringing home larger species, or such as would
devour their fellow-captives. When put into these,
beetles almost instantly die and become rigid, needing
a stay of two days or so to become relaxed, in which
condition they will then safely remain for a consider-
able period. In the first collecting bottle a piece of
muslin should be put, to give the contents foothold :
these are brought home alive, and killed by bodily im-
mersion in boiling water, after which they are placed
on blotting paper to drain off superfluous moisture.

Good things should always, when practicable, be
set out at once, as the pubescence is apt to get matted
if they are consigned for too long a period to the
laurel or cyanide bottle ; but such as remain un-
mounted can be put in a little muslin bag, and de-
posited in laurel until a more convenient opportunity.
Beetles also, when taken in large numbers during an
expedition into a productive locality, may be collected
indiscriminately into a bottle containing sawdust
(sifted to get rid both of large pieces and actual
dust), slightly alcoholized, or with a small quantity
of carbolic acid or cyanide of potassium in it. Each
night, on reaching home, these will be found to be
dead, and they can then be transferred to a larger
bottle or air-tight tin can, partially filled with the

78 BEETLES.

same materials and a little carbolic acid to check
undue moisture. Filled up with sawdust, this will
travel in safety for any distance, and almost any
time.

Species of moderate size, say up to that of an
ordinary Harpalus, are in this country usually
mounted on card. Much is to be said both for and
against this practice : it enables the proportions and
formation of limbs to be well appreciated, and it
preserves the specimens securely ; but there can be
no doubt that it prevents an inspection of the under
side, except at the slight trouble of extra manipula-
tion in floating off in cold water and reversing, and
that the gum used clogs the smaller portions of the
insect that come in contact with it. Specimens
larger than those mentioned should be pinned
through the centre of the upper third of the right
wing-case (never through the scutellum or thorax),
and the limbs extended in position with pins on a
setting board, made of a flat strip of cork glued on
deal. Both these and the mounted examples must
be left to dry, for a week at least, in the open air :
if the boards are fitted in a frame, they can be re-
versed (as soon as the gum is dry in mounted
specimens), so that the specimens are bottom up-
wards— dust cannot then collect on them, and there
is less chance of mites attacking them. Specimens

BEETLES. 79

dry more rapidly in spring and summer than at any
other time, and of course more readily in dry weather.
For mounting specimens, five or six small pieces
of the finest and most transparent gum tragacanth,
or " gum dragon," with rather less than the same
number of pieces of clear gum arabic, are to be put
in a wide-mouthed bottle with about a large wine-
glassful of cold water. In a short time (twenty-four
hours at most) the gum absorbs the fluid and swells ;
then add half as much more water, and stir the
mixture, which, on being left for another twenty-four
hours at most, will be ready for use. The mixture
should be dull white, of even texture, and not quite
fluid. Never make a large quantity at one time, or
be persuaded to put anything else into it. Card for
mounting should be the whitest, smoothest, and best
that can be procured. " Four-sheet Bristol board "
for large specimens, and three-sheet for ordinary use,
are about the proper degrees of thickness. Kobersons,
of Long Acre, artists' colourmen, have promised the
writer to turn out cardboard of this kind with an
extra milling, to ensure a good surface. Upon strips
of this card, pinned on a setting board, the insects to
be set out are mounted, one at a time, and not too
dose to each other, each on a separate "dab '' of the
gum, the limbs being duly set out with a fine pin or
needle mounted in a paint-brush stick. A pin with.

80 BEETLES.

the point very finely turned, so as to form a minute
hook, is very useful ; and for extremely minute work
a " bead-needle " is valuable. The gum-brush should
not be used in setting, but one or two very fine-pointed
camel's-hair brushes may be found of advantage.
Before mounting, reverse the specimen on the
blotting-paper, and brush out its limbs as far as
practicable with a damp flat brush. Very refrac-
tory individuals may require to be gummed on their
backs ;' as soon as the gum is dry, their limbs can be
more easily got into position, and they can then be
gently damped off their temporary mount, and
treated as above.

A small pair of brass microscope-forceps, ground or
cut to a minute point, will often materially assist in
getting refractory limbs into position. French white
liquid glue (not made of shell-lac) is useful for
fastening down larger specimens, as it is very strong
and dries readily ; and with a very small quantity of
it rows of specimens can quickly and securely be
roughly mounted, in the Continental way, which is
preferable in many cases to leaving the insects for a
long time in laurel before setting them out. Such
specimens can afterwards, if desired, be relaxed by
leaving them on damp sand, or in the cyanide or
laurel bottle, and be then set in the way above
indicated.

BEETLES. 81

Care must be taken, in setting, not to put the
specimen lop-sided on the card, or to distort its
segments unnaturally by pulling them out of posi-
tion, &c., and not to allow gum to lodge anywhere
on the upper surface. It is easy, soon after a spe-
cimen is securely mounted, to remove with clean
water and brush any superfluous gum. In preparing
such insects as are liable to "run up" in drying
(e. g. the Staphylinidse\ the abdomen should be duly
pulled out by a bead-needle inserted at its apex;
and to prevent the contraction of the internal mus-
cles in drying, this part may be held with the liquid
glue above mentioned. Usually, by putting these
insects as soon as mounted into a box and keeping it
closed for a few hours, while the first drying takes
place, the proper dimensions of the abdomen may be
preserved, and thus the natural facies of the insect
retained. The contents of the bodies of very large
insects may well be removed, either by the anal
orifice, or by an incision on the lower side of the
abdomen. The Oil-beetles (Meloe) alone require
careful stuffing. This is best done by separating the
entire abdomen from the metathorax, beneath the
elytra, and close to their point of insertion: the
body is then easily emptied and washed out, and
may be filled with cut-up wool, which packs closely ;
when gummed on again, the junction is not visible,

G

82 BEETLES.

and the entire insect preserves its wonderfully obese
appearance.

To save time, in mounting many specimens, it is
better to merely gum straight on the strip of card as
many specimens as can be managed at a sitting.
The left side of each of these can then be slightly
damped with clear cold water, and its left limbs set
out: when all are thus done, the first one will be
nearly, if not quite, ready to have its right side
treated in like manner ; and so on to the end. Yery
refractory specimens will sometimes require to be
even held down with little braces of card on pins,
and to have each limb damped and set out by a
separate operation. The card of large specimens
will often curl upwards in drying, owing to the
amount of damp : to counteract this, the loiver face
of the card may be washed with a wet brush, just
before gumming its surface.

Before putting insects away, when dry, the indi-
vidual specimens should be cut off the strips of card
by a straight cut on each side, one at right angles
to the sides in front, and another behind, all (except
the last) close to the tips of the limbs as set out, so
that the whole card forms a parallelogram. A very
little practice will enable the operator to do this
both certainly and quickly. No two individuals
(save perhaps a male and female, of whose sexual

BEETLES. 83

relations there can be no doubt, or an example
mounted on its back, to show its under side, along
with a member of the same species) should be allowed
to continue on one card ; much less should a row be
left together. The reason of this is, that in many
cases species closely resembling each other often get
confused ; and it is, moreover, difficult to get a glass
of anything but a very low power to bear upon all
parts of the individuals without injuring some of
them. Each specimen should have sufficient card
left behind it to allow of a glass of high power being
passed between it everywhere and its pin. The pin
should perforate the card in the middle of, and close
to, its hinder margin ; and the whole card be lifted
three-fourths up the pin, to keep it from mites and
dirt as much as possible. Proper entomological pins
can be obtained of all sizes at the agents of Edelsten,
17, Silver Street, St. Martin's-le-Grand ; also (with
all other apparatus) of any natural-history agent or
dealer in London; such as Mr. E. W. Janson, 28,
Museum Street, or Cooke, New Oxford Street.
"No. 8" pin is, perhaps, the most useful size. In re-
moving many specimens, proper insect forceps will be
found handy : these can be obtained at the two last
addresses ; or of Buck, cutler, Tottenham Court Eoad.
Specimens will occasionally become discoloured
with grease, usually from defective drying, though

G 2

84 BEETLES.

many water beetles and internal feeders, and most
autumn-caught specimens, are specially liable to this
defect. Benzine is an effectual remedy for it and
for mites, and can be liberally applied with a brush.
Carbolic or phsenic acid, dissolved in that fluid (or
alone, see p. 64), is an effectual safeguard against
mould from damp ; and when in solution with water,
this acid has been found useful as a wash for card
and boxes, which then are not attacked by mites. To
re-card a specimen that has become discoloured
(whether from either of these causes, or from age),
it is only necessary that it should be floated in cold
water for a few 'minutes ; the insect can then be
dried, well saturated with benzine, and again mounted,
looking as fresh as ever. But, in re-carding specimens,
it is necessary to be very careful with such as were
originally kept too long in a laurel or cyanide bottle^
as they are apt to become so rotten that a little
damp will cause a "solution of continuity."

As to storing the specimens when quite dry, I
can add nothing to the excellent observations of Dr.
Knaggs, at p. 65 ; the same remarks applying with
equal force to Coleoptera ; except, perhaps, that, even
when the collector has (and is satisfied with) a
cabinet, he is likely, in proportion to the real work
done by him, to establish type-boxes of all the
difficult groups.

BEETLES. 85

For the examination of insects, readily manipu-
lated by being pinned singly on a square, flat, thick
piece of cork or bung, a pocket glass is, of course,
necessary. In this case, the best instrument is the
cheapest in the long run, whatever its cost ; and one
by a good maker, such as Eoss, with modifications of
four powers, will suffice for any ordinary work. For
very small species, a Coddington, of the clearest
definition and highest power attainable, is of im-
mense help. But when the collector finds that he
needs a compound microscope to separate species,
it is the firm opinion of the present writer that
that collector had better take to some other pursuit
than studying Cokoptera. To anyone, however, whose
researches entail an examination of the minute
cibarian and other organs of beetles, whether for
purposes of classification or otherwise, the compound
is absolutely necessary ; though even then the lower
powers are usually sufficient. For rough dissection,
all that is needed are an oculist's very small lance-
headed dissecting-knife and a stout and fine needle.
With these, under a lens mounted on a little stage
to allow the free use of both hands, much may be
done. The writer, however, has seen and used a very
pretty (and comparatively inexpensive) dissecting-
-stand, with various powers and much latitude Of
motion, by Eoss.

86 BEETLES.

After mentioning that, in sending mounted beetles
by post to correspondents, it is far more practical to
use a strong box, not too deep, to fasten the pins
securely, with a layer of manufactured wool in the
lid (glazed side towards the beetles, so as not to
catch limbs), and to put more wool outside, and
write the address and affix the stamp on a label at-
tached, than it is to pack carelessly, write " With
care" outside,* and then grumble at the post-office
because the insects are broken, — I think I cannot^
with use, say anything more upon beetles in their
preserved condition ; and I will therefore now give
some hints as to their haunts when alive.

To exhaust the accidental-capture system above
alluded to, mention must first be made of sand-pit
collecting, a most profitable employment, especially
in spring and early summer. A clean, straight-sided
silver-sand pit is the best, and if in or near a wood
its attractions will be at their highest. Beetles,
flying of an evening and by night, dash against the
pit sides and fall to the bottom ; others merely crawl
in for shelter, or tumble over the sides, and many
seem attracted by the mere damp at the bottom or
in the corners. Old collectors used to recommend a

* It is, however, always as well to write " Insects," signifying
contents that are " caviare to the million," and therefore not
likely to be appropriated en route.

BEETLES. 87

sheet spread out to attract insects ; and there is no
doubt that a certain number can be found by such
means, just as they can be picked up floating on
horse-troughs or on ponds. Artificial traps exist in
the corridors of the Crystal Palace, some half-inclosed
country railway stations, and such places ; crawling
up the windows of wMeh many specimens are to be
found. But these can only be considered as indica-
tions of what species occur in the district, as they
are mere stragglers. Deliberately laying traps in
sand pits, on commons, &c., will be found most pro-
ductive. Small dead animals, fir branches, dead
leaves, &c., can be examined time after time with
profit in such situations. Burying a stout branch
with the bark on, leaving the top above the soil, and
periodically examining it when damp and nearly
rotten, has been found effective; many insects
collecting beneath the loose wet bark.

After heavy floods, as durirg severe droughts,
beetles may be found in great profusion; in the
former case, by sifting the refuse left by the water ;
in the latter, by diligently examining the damp
residuum of former ponds, and if no damp be found,
by even searching below the surface where it last
occurred.

The wet hay, often decayed and mouldy, at the
bottoms of stacks, which bad farmers have placed

88 BEETLES.

directly on the ground, will be found to teem with
beetle-life; as will the margins of dung and vege-
table-refuse heaps, wood-stacks, cut grass, &c.; and
many good things may be taken by gently waving a
light gauze net to and fro, just before sunset, close
to such places, whither the instinct of nature impels
the flight of myriads.

In winter, isolated tufts of grass in wet places, on
the margins of streams, the crests of banks, &c., must
be cut close to the ground, and gently torn in pieces
over brown paper. Wherever many insects seem to
be found, it will in most of these cases be found
advisable to sift the fragments, and bring home the
beetles and small stuff unexamined in a bag with a
string at the neck to prevent their escape. Moss
should be treated in this way, and the layers of black
and rotting leaves found in woods, especially at
their outskirts. Beech leaves usually produce many
species, and the autumn and spring are the best
times for hunting for them.

In winter, also, many species will be found
hybernating in grass at the roots of trees, under
bark, &c., in conditions not usual with them at
other times.

In autumn, fungi, in woods especially, will be
found most productive.

General sweeping, except during the winter, will

BEETLES. 89

always be more or less remunerative. No general
rules can be laid down for this ; in a good neighbour-
hood (on chalk or sand, or, better still, in a district
where both these soils are found) beetles will swarm
almost anywhere in due season, and the most un-
likely-looking spots will frequently be found the
best in the end. In luxuriant herbage, among low
shrubs, in the close-growing vegetation of hill-sides,
the sweeping net may be plied with success ; but the
best way, with all Phytophaga at least, is to start
with a fixed idea as to catching certain definite
species, and then, at the right time, to hunt for such
plants as these are known or supposed to frequent ;
and, such failing in the district, to try their allies.
Of course, the collector will not fail to sweep flowers
in woods and lanes, whereon, in the hot sunshine,
many showy beetles bask. Many good things will
be found by sweeping under fir trees, especially
towards evening, and even by night ; in many places,
especially marshes, nocturnal feeders may be secured
by the vague use of this net. By night, also, many
species may be found at sugar put on trees for
moths, and on ivy or sallow-blossom.

Beating is most productive in early summer,
especially in the second year's growth of young
cuttings in woods ; and the oak, hazel, and poplar
will generally yield many species to the tap of the

90 BEETLES.

stick. Good thick, and especially old hedges, must
also be always carefully thrashed into the net;
very many good things, otherwise not procurable,
will reward this toil. Another scheme for getting
rare species is to heat the tops of trees with a long
pole, placing beneath a sheet or tent covering.

Breaking away the extreme edges of banks,
throwing water on them, treading heavily on the
margins, diligently examining grass and roots close
to the water, reeds (especially if cut and on the
ground in heaps), &c., will bring to light great
numbers of wet-loving beetles. Water beetles,
pure and simple, must be dragged and dredged for,,
especially round water plants beneath the surface,
and along the sides of ponds, in eddies of running
streams, in the moss on stones in them, and on the
stones themselves, &c.

The Coprophaga will be found readily in the
droppings of various Mammalia, and also in holes
bored in the ground beneath, often to a great depth.
An easy and clean way to secure them is to throw
droppings, ground and all, into water, the beetles
coming to the surface.

As to wood beetles, they must be sought for
under and in bark, in solid wood, in decaying
branches, and such places ; a rule to be remem-
bered is, that most of these occur at the tops of

BEETLES. 91

trees : hence the paucity of so many species in col-
lections. Indeed, to properly hunt for the majority
of them, it is necessary to obtain carte blanche and a
ladder, if any success be hoped for. Felled trunks
are, of course, easy to manipulate ; and their freshly-
cut stumps, exuding either resin or a peculiar and
often sweet mucor, are very attractive to many
beetles, as is freshly-cut sawdust, and most espe-
cially the (to us) fetid and acrid juice resulting
from the attacks of the larva of the Goat-moth,
Rotten fruit, &c., are also not to be passed by with-
out examination. Many small species occur in, or
can be obtained from, the topmost twigs of trees
blown down by the wind.

Dead animals, as before mentioned, must be ex-
amined, as must the vegetation and soil near them.
A keeper's tree in a wood will always produce some-
thing for the collector, who need only hold his net
beneath the gibbeted ferse and bang their hides and
bones with his beating-stick. During different
stages of decomposition and desiccation, beetles of
widely varied affinities will result from this method
of collecting.

Ants' nests would require a special notice, so pro-
ductive are they : their material can be sifted and
their neighbouring "runs" or paths examined,
traps laid near or on them, and periodically cleared

92 BEETLES.

out, &c. Bees' and wasps' nests also produce good,
though fewer species, and are, moreover, not quite
so easy of access. The nests of birds, especially if
the latter are gregarious, and, indeed, the habita-
tions of any animals, will be found to harbour many
beetles, amongst other insects.

In gardens, the beetle collector should lay cun-
ning traps of cut grass, twigs, planks, bones, &c. ;
by a periodical examination of which he will secure
many good things. If there be a hothouse about
the premises, it and its belongings will always act
as a bait.

Large tracts of waste land and commons, though
superficially apparently unproductive, often contain
congregations of good species, in some little oasis
of damp or vegetation ; moreover, on them several
peculiar beetles occur. Hills and mountains will
often suddenly repay the toil of the collector, who
has despondently worked his way up, turning over
stones, and finding comparatively nothing. The
moss, &c., attending the channels of any streams in
such places should be carefully searched, and the
stones on the top especially not neglected. Kiver
banks and salt marshes are invariably frequented by
good insects, and the very heaps of seaweed, dry or
wet, on the shore harbour countless beetles. In
such places small sand-loving plants should be

BEETLES. 93

pulled up by the roots, and, with the neighbouring
soil, shaken over brown paper. The sand itself
may in many instances be scraped, and burrowing
beetles brought to light; but if the hunter comes
upon a dead fish or bird, a full bottle will be his.

Thus it will be seen that almost every locality
contains beetles, if the collector can only detect
them (and it may be as well here to impress on him
that it is better to bottle a dubious insect and ex-
amine it at home, than to reject it for being appa-
rently common). Still there can be no doubt that
certain soils and districts are much more productive
than others ; for instance, most of the midland and
western counties, and some of the south-western,
are not by any means so prolific as the eastern,
southern, and many parts of the northern districts
of Great Britain; clay being the worst of all soils
for the Coleopterist.

The collector will do well, after a first hurried
"burst" at all beetles that come in his way, to
select a special group, and lay himself out to work it
carefully, buying or borrowing the works of autho-
rities upon it, and making himself master of the
"botany connected with it, if it be a group of plant-
frequenting habits. By such a way of working, he
will more quickly, though step by step, acquire a
good collection, and a stock of useful knowledge,

D4: BEETLES.

than by any other. He will of course keep a register
of the date and place of capture, and any pecu-
liarity of habit of each insect he takes. Figures of
the date of the year (usually the last two are suffi-
cient), followed by another set, commencing with 1,
will generally be quite enough ; corresponding entries
being made in the first column of a ruled diary.
These figures may be written in ink on the under
-side of the card of a mounted specimen, or on a
circular disc of paper, pierced by the pin of one too
large to be carded.

HYMENOPTERA. 95

VI.

HYMENOPTERA.
BY JOHN B. BRIDGMAN.

HAVING been asked to give some instructions as to
the method of setting and preserving the aculeate
Hymenoptera, it is with great pleasure I comply,
and I hope it may be the means of inducing others
to collect these insects. To begin at the beginning,
it is almost needless to state that the females of all
of them (a few of the ants excepted) are furnished
with stings, but with very little care one need never
be stung. As Mrs. Glass says, " First catch your
hare " : so first I shall give a few instructions where
to look for and how to catch these insects. All the
apparatus necessary is a gauze ring-net, a cyanide
bottle, and a pocket full of small card pill-boxes;
the cyanide bottle is best made by wrapping a small
piece of cyanide of potassium in two or three thick-
nesses of blotting-paper, tying it round with cotton
to prevent it shaking out, then fixing it to the
bottom of a wide-mouthed flat bottle with sealing-
wax, which is made to adhere firmly to the glass
by heating the glass carefully over a lamp, and then

96 HYMENOPTEKA.

corking it up. The pill-boxes ought to have the tops
and bottoms fastened in with liquid glue (a prepara-
tion of shell-lac). These are all that are required
to catch and bring home the game ; which is to be
looked for at the flowers of trees, bushes, and plants
— one season's experience will teach the best, as
some species frequent one, some another, and some
almost all. The flowers I have found the greatest
favourites are sallows, willows, sycamore, holly,
blackthorn, bramble, hawk weeds, ragwort, thistles,
and umbellifersB. Some bore in putrescent wood,
and must be looked for on or in the neighbourhood
of old posts and palings; some are to be found
flying about dry banks, hard-trodden pathways, on
heaths, while old sand pits are favourite places ; but
they should be sought for in any warm, rough,
weedy spot ; and some may be obtained by digging
them out of their burrows with a trowel. My plan
of proceeding, after having got one in the net, is to
catch hold of the net so that the insect is inclosed
in a sort of sack, I then uncork the cyanide, and
introduce that into the sack, holding the net firmly
round the neck of the bottle, so that there is no-
other escape for the insect from the net but into the
bottle, then gradually work the insect into the
bottle and close the mouth with several folds of the
net, watch my opportunity and insert the cork:

HYMENOPTERA. UV

when the insect is stupefied, which happens in a few
seconds if the bottle is slightly warm, I turn it into
the pill-box. A word of caution : it is necessary to
be methodical in carrying the boxes. I always keep
the empty ones in my right-hand pocket, and the
filled ones in the left-hand one, as, if they are
carried sometimes one way, sometimes another,
sooner or later a previously filled one will be opened
to put an insect in, which will result in the former
tenant speedily making room for the new comer ;
and my experience has been, if you do lose anything
it is generally your best capture.

Having got home with the left-hand pocket more
or less filled, turn the boxes out, preparatory to
killing the contents, which must be done with burnt
sulphur. My mode of proceeding is as follows:—
I stupefy the contents of each box with chloroform,

in a manner I will describe farther on. Having

&

stupefied them, I empty them all into a short, wide-
rnouthed, round bottle, having a piece of glass tube
put through the cork; the mouth of the tube is
plugged with cotton wool, not too tight, to act as a
strainer. I then put this in a Nabob pickle-bottle
(any other bottle will do as well), through the
stopper of which I have drilled a hole about a six-
teenth of an inch in diameter, in which is fixed a
copper wire, having a shallow tin cup at the end.

H

98 HYMENOPTERA.

In this tin cup is placed the sulphur. The tin cup
is then held over the flame of a lamp, gas, or candle,
till the sulphur is burning, then put it into the
bottle and press it down. When all the oxygen is
consumed the sulphur goes out. Leave them for
about three hours, take them out, and put them into
a damp box for twelve or more hours : they will
then be in a splendid condition for setting. To
stupefy the insects I tip the lids on one side, put
them into the sulphur bottle, pour a drop or two
into the tin cup, and put it into the bottle. Be
careful not to chloroform them too much, as if
killed so they become so rigid that it is with diffi-
culty they can be set.

Having killed them, there only remains to pin and
set them. There are various sizes of pins used;
most collectors have fancies of their own on this
subject ; I shall therefore only say what is my prac-
tice. The pins I use are D. F. Tayler & Co.'s, New
Hall Works, Birmingham ; No. 15 for bumble-bees
only ; the other sizes I find most useful are 15, 10,
and 18. Some pin the insects straight, and some
with the pin inclining forward. Having pinned
them, the next thing is to set them. There are two
ways of doing this ; one is, cut an oblong square of
iout cardboard, and put a pin through one end ;
after the legs are stretched out, this is put int© the

HYMENOPTERA.

99

. 28.

cork, one on each side, till the upper surface of cork
is just below the level ot the wings, which are then
laid out on the card, and held there by a brace the
same shape as the table (see Fig. 28). If the in-
sect has been pro-
perly killed, the legs
and antenna? will
keep set out without
the aid of pins; if
not, this is done
with bent or straight
pins, as may be ne-
cessary. The other
way is a " hymn
of my own com-
posing."

First take one of
the strips of cork as
sold at the shops,
paper it on both
sides with thin soft
paper; then take a

piece of wood a little larger than the cork, about
half an inch thick ; on this I glue strips of card-
board, or thin wood, according to the size of the
insect, side by side, and as far apart as necessary
(see Fig. 29). These being dry, I glue the sheet of

H 2

Insect set with Table Braces.

Fig. 29.

Wood, with the Strips glued on.

100 HYMENOPTER A.

cork on to the top of the .strips, which leaves it
looking like a succession of bridges. When this is
dry the cork must be cut through between the
pieces first fastened on the wood. These pieces are
then taken out and glued to the wood (see Fig. 30);

Fig. 30. .

Ditto, side view. A, the same with the cork glued on ; B, cork ;
C, the same with the cork cut through at the dotted lines in A, and
i'astened down.

this leaves many setting boards, something similar
to the single rounded ones used by Lepidopterists ;
but these are flat — they want to be just deep enough
for the insect and wide enough to allow the legs to
be stretched out. A little practice will soon deter-
mine the size. The wing I hold down with small
triangular braces. Each board will hold about
seventy or eighty insects; beneath I put the date
they were set, and leave them on the board about a
month to dry, as if taken off too soon the wings
spring. Always put a label to each specimen, either
with the date or a number corresponding to one in
a book, in which enter the date and locality.

One more observation and I have done. Some-
times one comes across an insect whose rigid wings.

HYMEXOPTERA. 101

seem to defy all attempts to set; in such cas«»s
just press firmly at the back part of the thorax,
between that and the abdomen, towards the pin,
and the wings will sometimes fly open of their own
accord, or will allow of their being easily set in the
required direction, which should always be set well
forward.

102 LAND AND FRESHWATER SHELLS, ETC.

VII.

LAND AND FRESHWATER SHELLS, ETC.
BY PROFESSOR RALPH TATE, F.G.S., ETC.

A YOUNG friend, desirous of entering upon one of the
most accessible natural history pursuits, that of
the study of Land and Freshwater Molluscs, begged
of me some practical hints on the collection and
preservation of these objects of our woodlands, way-
sides, and watercourses. Believing that this kind
of work offers a good stepping-stone to the study of
nature in its more extended forms and complicated
relations, I was most anxious to help my tyro na-
turalist, and that beyond his utmost expectations,
as I made a few initiatory trips with him in a search
for the coveted treasures.

Our equipment was simple and inexpensive, con-
sisting of a block-tin saucepan finely perforated at
the bottom, about six inches across, and having a
hollow handle of a size to receive firmly the end of a
common walking-stick — such a dredge or a sifter will
cost ninepenqe or a shilling at a tinman's; secondly,,
of a pocket lens ; and lastly, of a variety of boxes,
and a bag to contain specimens of different sizes.
Thus provided, our first excursion had for its object

LAND AND FRESHWATER SHELLS, ETC. 103

an examination of certain neighbouring ponds and
stieams. My pupil, guessing the use of the per-
forated saucepan, makes his way to the nearest pond,
fixes the improvised handle, dashes in the sifter with
impatient ardour, and having brought up a quantity
of mud from the bottom, looked upon the oozy mass
with despair. Patience, my lad ! Kemember that
the pleasure of success in science is the higher
the greater the labour expended in obtaining the
objects of our search. Expect failure now and again,
but do not be disheartened. Ohne Hast ohne East,
should be the motto of every naturalist. Now, shake
the tin in the water, keeping its rim just out of the
water, dipping it down now and then. That is well ;
thus you see that you have cleared off the mud, and
what you want is probably left behind along with
the rubbish. What, nothing ! Come, try again ; but
this time scrape the sifter along the surface of the
mud, and I am confident that you will find some-
thing to reward you, and with much less trouble and
display of temper. In this way, after repeated trials,
a number of shells were secured and transferred to
the boxes. Then, after the first gush of excitement is
over, we retire to an adjoining bank to con over the
spoils, and I to make mention of the various habits
of freshwater snails, and consequently of the different
modes of search. My young friend's enthusiasm is

104 LAND AND FRESHWATER SHELLS, ETC.

aroused by the mention that a few large mussel-like
shells are inhabitants of our fresh waters, and great
is his haste to be up and again doing, in the hope of
adding some of them to his stock. But in vain were
his many attempts to find them in the pond which
had already yielded us such a variety. " Do tliey
live here ? " is at last the anxious question. " No ;
but let us away to yon sluggish brook, for it is in
such that we may expect to meet with them." '•' New
I see them. Are not those their ends just peeping
above the mud ? " And full of eagerness he dashes
in the dredge, but with little result, excepting that of
a dead shell or two. " Oh ! how can I get them ?
Shall I take oft" my shoes and socks and wade for
them ?" "Well, you might secure them that way,
and sometimes it is the only way, but on this occasion
I do not think it necessary. Come, we will move a
little higher up, where the stream is clear, and the
shellfish undisturbed. Observe the gaping ends of
the shell, and thus I push the end of the stout rod
between the partially-open valves ; now they close
upon the stick, and so we bring our prize holding on
to the stick to the bank."

"You will recollect," addressing my companion,
" that in the muddy pond we have just left, we chiefly
got small bivalves and only a few snail shells. I
have already told you that water shells differ much

LAND AND FRESHWATER SHELLS, ETC. 105

in their habits, and that consequently our 'search
for any particular species, or set of species, can only
be successfully carried on when that knowledge is
our guide. Those little bivalves, and a few of the
snails that we have gathered, habitually live at the
bottom, and will of course be brought up in the
dredge when that implement is dragged over it ;
but there are many shells which live at or near the
surface, and which feed on the submerged and float-
ing plants. Therefore we must seek out a weedy
pool if we would increase the variety of our collec-
tion." Such a spot is reached ; and the dredge is
brought into requisition, anon to snatch up a float-
ing snail, or again to sweep over and through the
plants, varying our occupation by dragging to the
margin the tangled masses of weeds ; by all of
which means a considerable number of the class of
air-breathing water snails was obtained — admonish-
ing my young friend that this last plan does very
well when the plants grow in dense masses, because
when thus interlaced they form a natural net to
catch those snails which on the slightest disturbance
lose their hold upon the weeds, and which would
otherwise fall to the bottom.

Yet another plan remains to be pursued, one by
which the few small shells hiding among the roots
of the plants may be secured. Obviously the dredge

106 LAND AND FKESHWATEK SHELLS, ETC.

misses such ; but by pulling up the plants by their
roots, and well shaking them in the half-sunken
sifter, we yet after all obtain them.

From causes which need not be explained here,,
the shells living in some ponds are all much eroded,
or coated with a ferruginous deposit; it will be
desirable therefore to find out the localities where
specimens are in the best condition, so that you may
have typical specimens for comparison before an
extensive collection is made.

Our experience is, that though a considerable
number of species may be obtained from a ditch or
pond, yet a few are found as the sole molluscan
tenants of particular sheets of water; that lakes
exhibit a dearth of life, and that the greatest va-
riety is often to be met with in canals ; but should
a search be carried on in them, avoid the towpath
side, for reasons that a little thought will readily
suggest.

Living near the sea, and within a short distance
of wooded hill-sides, we had within a limited area
such a variety of physical features that we were led
to infer the existence of a rich molluscan fauna for
the neighbourhood. Our second excursion was de-
voted to a search for snails along the sea margin
and shores of the estuary. Proceeding along the
low sand-dunes — at first sight a most uninteresting:

LAND AND FRESHWATER SHELLS, ETC. 107

spot — Helix caperata, H. virgata, Bidimus 'acutus,
and a few other snails, were found clustering upon
the low stunted vegetation in such numbers, that
hand fills might have been gathered within an area
of a few square feet. Leaving the seashore, our
way led us over the foreshore of the mouth of the
river, crushing under our feet at every step shells
of Cardium edule, Scrobicularia piperata, and a few
other bivalves which find a congenial habitat in.
such situations. Gaining the muddy margins of the
higher part of the estuary, Conovulus was looked for,,
and found under the stones along the high-water
mark. Higher up the river the rejectamentum on
its banks was carefully turned over, and we were
successful in securing a number of land shells. The
animals, of course, do not live in such places ; but
their empty shells, which alone were found, had been,
brought down from the land surface by the agency
of the streams and tributaries of the river. Never-
theless such an omnium gatherum should demand
attention, as its contents give an insight into the
character of the land and freshwater forms within
the area of drainage of the river.

The number of estuarine species which have a
place in our works devoted to British land and
freshwater snails is very few, and the majority,
moreover, are confined to the margins of the tidal

108 LAND AND FRESHWATER SHELLS, ETC.

rivers in the south of England. Thus Assiminea
Grayana^ Hydrobia ventrosa, and H. similis, live on
the mud banks beneath the shade of sedges and
rushes, skirting the Thames below Greenwich. To
gather these small shells singly is a tedious opera-
tion ; but if a thin piece of flat wood, or other
substitute as the ingenuity of the collector suggests,
be used to scrape lightly over the surface of mud,
transferring the mass to the dredger, and washing in
water, a number of specimens sufficient to stock
every private cabinet in the country may be obtained
jn a short space of time.

For the third initiatory excursion our steps were
directed inland, and as we proceeded the hedgerows,
mossy banks, and margins of watercourses were
diligently searched, finding a Helix here, a Pupa or
a Succinea there. Gaining the woods, we turn over
the damp leaves, grub under the clumps of ferns
and wood-rushes for small Helices, Pupae, and the
like ; scan the trunks of the trees for the climbing
ClausilidSj Bulimi, and Helices, not unmindful that
each little dirt-like mass is probably a Bulimus
-obseurus, which, by covering its shell with mud, thus
exhibits a protective faculty, and often escapes de-
tection. Eaise the rotting bark for Balia ; lift the
.stones at our feet, or roll away a log for Helicella,

LAND AND FRESHWATER SHELLS, ETC. 109

and other small shells which usually live in such
situations.

From all this we learn that each species affects
certain stations, and therefore, with the knowledge
of the circumstances in which they are found, we
may set out with some definite idea as to what we
are likely to meet with ; and, in consequence, when
to collect and where to collect are regulated by the
unvarying habits of the objects of our search.

Now, a large portion of the life of most land snails
is passed in a state of sleep. Those living in open
situations are inactive during the heat of a summer's
day, and when there is continued drought; but on
the first shower, or after the fall of dew at night,
they recover and move about in search of food.
Cold acts much in the same way as heat, and
with the fall of the leaf they retire to winter quarters
in crannies of rocks, crevices of walls, under heaps of
decaying vegetation, &c., or bury themselves in the
soil, there to hybernate till the genial showers of
spring awaken them.

The best time of the year for collecting is in the
autumn, when the shells are full-grown. Those
collected in spring have lost much of their original
beauty by exposure to the rains and cold of the
winter months.

110 LAND AND FRESHWATER SHELLS, ETC.

As regards the particular time of day to collect
with advantage, it has already been implied that a
search in an open country should be prosecuted after
a shower of rain, or during early morn. In damp
woods, where throughout the day the air is suffi-
ciently moist to maintain the animals in full activity,
no such considerations determine the best time for
collecting. In such places, light is usually the
desideratum, and consequently I have found that
a search conducted at midday in a clear sky has been
amply rewarded.

Land snails exhibit a partiality for calcareous
soils, not only by those living on downs and hill-
sides, but also by the woodland species.

Having spent the forenoons of three days in
gathering slugs and snails as before detailed, one
evening was devoted to the preparation of the speci-
mens for the cabinet.

The first step was to remove the animals, and, as
all know, it is neither an easy nor a cleanly task to
separate the living snail and its house ; but kill your
snail, and the muscular connection with the shell
being severed, its whole body is readily taken out
by means of a pin — why, it is just like picking
periwinkles; and if the proclivities of our child-
hood's days are not entirely obliterated, cleaning out
larger snails from their shells will be a task re-

LAND AND FRESHWATER SHELLS, ETC. Ill

quiring no teaching. But, with regard to the smaller
kind, it is another matter, and it will be my duty to
show you how to set about the work.

Now pick out those shells, the apertures of which
are wide enough, as it seems to you, to permit the
removal of the dead body of the snail by a pin. You
may also place with them the larger bivalves. All
these we will boil to kill the animals ; then strain
off the water, and wash with cold water. By this
means the bodies contract, and being firmer are not
so liable to be broken in the process of removal.
Shake the water out of the empty shell, and place
them before the fire to dry ; do not rub them, but
particles of dirt may be gently flicked off by the aid
of a camel-hair brush. Thus we treat the larger

o

snails. Now for the mussels. Doubtless most of
the dead bodies will have fallen out between the
open valves while in the water ; should any remain,
a slight shaking of the shell held by the hand in the
water will remove the contained body. Taken from
the water, the valves gape widely ; dry the inside
and outside with a cloth, and having tape or cotton
at hand, close the valves by the pressure of the
thumb and fingers of the one hand, and with the
end of the thread between your teeth, wind the
thread two or three times around the shell with the
other ; now tie the thread as tight as you can. " Yes,

112 LAND AND FRESHWATER SHELLS, ETC.

I have done so, but still the valves are not closed/*
True, this is because of the elasticity of thread. If,
however, you will take the precaution to wet the
thread before tying, you will find that the tie is
more secure, and that there is less difficulty in
making the second knot.

With patience and a little skill, bivalves as small
as Cyclas cornea may be treated in this way. But
the smaller Ptsidiums, and some of the minute snails,,
as Carycliimti minimum, may be prepared for the
cabinet by gently drying them in sand ; too great
a heat causes a transfusion of the carbonaceous
matter of the animal into the substance of the shell,
which is thereby discoloured.

There still remain for treatment such shells as
Clausilia, Bulimus, Helicella, some Helices, &c., the
animals of which retreat, on the least irritation,
beyond the reach of a pin, and whose shells, indeed,
will hardly bear the rough handling almost necessary
when a pin is used. Their bodies might be dried
within the shells, but if it be possible to remove
some portion only of the animal, an attempt should
be made to do so.

Land snails, when placed in water, do their best
to effect an escape from a medium so fatal to them ;
their efforts are usually exhibited by stretching out
their bodies to the utmost, swaying them to and fro

LAND AND FRESHWATER SHELLS, ETC. 113

as if in search of a foothold. Taking advantage of
this propensity, the snails should be immersed in
tepid water, because the majority, after a day or
two's confinement in the collecting boxes, will be in
a dormant condition, and warm water has a greater
resuscitating effect than cold. When all the snails
are struggling to find a way out of their unpleasant
situation, gradually add hot water so as to kill or
paralyze them while in an extended state. They
may now be thrown into boiling water, the better
to relax the muscular attachments, and the bodies,
or so much as will come away, dragged out by for-
ceps, or a pin passed through the foot. The shells
may now be dried in sand, as before mentioned.

In cleaning the shells of some species, great care
is needed, so as not to remove the hairs or bristles
which clothe the surface of the epidermis.

The shells of such snails as Paludina, Cydostoma,
&c., &c., would be imperfectly illustrated without the
opercula or lids which close the apertures of their
shells. Each one should be detached from the foot
of the srail, the interior of the shell plugged with
cotton wool, and the specimen gummed down in its
natural position.

The preservation of slugs requires separate treat-
ment, and I can give but little additional inform-
ation to that published in my 'British Land and

114 LAND AND FRESHWATER SHELLS, ETC.

Freshwater Molluscs,' an extract from which is
subjoined : —

" As regards the internal shell, it may be obtained
by making a conical incision in the shield, taking
care not to cut down upon the calcareous plate,
which can then be removed without difficulty. The
animals can only be conserved by keeping them in
some preservative fluid; but the great object to
keep in view is to have the slug naturally extended.
Most fluids contract the slugs when they are im-
mersed in them. The slugs should be killed whilst
crawling, by plunging them into a solution of cor-
rosive sublimate, or into benzine. Models in wax
or dough are sometimes substituted for the animals.
A writer in the ' Naturalist ' gives a process for the
preservation of slugs, which he states to answer
admirably, and to be very superior to spirit, glyce-
rine, creosote, and other solutions : — ' Make a cold
saturated solution of corrosive sublimate ; put it into
a deep wide-mouthed bottle ; then take the slug you
wish to preserve, and let it crawl upon a long slip
of card. When the tentacles are fully extended,
plunge it suddenly into the solution; in a few
minutes it will die, with the tentacles fully extended
in the most life-like manner ; so much so indeed, if
taken out of the fluid it would be difficult to say
whether it be alive or dead. The slugs thus pre-

LAND AND FRESHWATER SHELLS, ETC. 115

pared should not be mounted in spirit, as it is apt to
contract and discolour them. A mixture of one and
a half parts of water and one part of glycerine, I
find to be the best mounting fluid. It preserves
the colour beautifully, and its antiseptic qualities
are unexceptionable. A good-sized test-tube answers
better than a bottle for putting them up, as it admits
of closer examination of the animal. The only draw-
back to this process is, that unless the solution is of
sufficient strength, and unless the tentacles are ex-
truded when the animal is immersed, it generally,
but not invariably, fails. Some slugs appear to be
more susceptible to the action of the fluid than
others ; and it generally answers better with full-
grown than with young specimens. But if suc-
cessful, the specimens are as satisfactory as could be
desired ; and even if unsuccessful, they are a great
deal better than those preserved in spirit; for,
although the tentacles may not be completely ex-
truded, they are more or less so.' "

The Testacellae I have treated in the following
manner : by partially drying them in sand, and re-
moval of the soft parts through a cut in the length
of the foot, filling up with cotton wool and a renewal
of the drying.

Our land and freshwater snails have other struc-
tures besides their shells which should claim our

i 2

116 LAND AND FRESHWATER SHELLS, ETC.

attention. These, which include their jaws, tongues,,
and some other minute parts, are not so inaccessible
as one is at first too apt to consider, and are de-
servedly in favour as microscopic objects requiring
a low power. I shall assume that the collector has
preserved the bodies or the heads of the snails in
spirit, which he has removed from their shells in the
process of preparing them for his cabinet. He will
take care to keep separate the animals of each
species.

A last word upon the mode of displaying the
shells in the cabinet. Here one has considerable
choice, as they may be kept in open card trays, or
in glass-topped boxes, or gummed on cards, papered
boards, or glass tablets. Loose specimens admit of
ready examination, whilst the method of mounting
permits an arrangement of individuals according to
size and locality, and is much to be preferred.

FLOWERING PLANTS AND PERNS. Ill

VIII.

FLOWERING PLANTS AND FERNS.

BY JAMES BRITTEN, F.L.S.

PART I.

THE kindred subjects of the collecting of plants and
their arrangement in the herbarium have been
treated of over and over again, and it might almost
seem as though nothing further need be said upon
the matter. But in spite of all that has been
written, it cannot be said that anything like uniform
excellence has been attained, either in the collecting
or drying of specimens : on the contrary, much care-
lessness is still exhibited in both particulars, and the
following remarks on the subject may therefore be
useful to some, at any rate, among the readers of
•' Science Gossip.' It has been found impossible to
treat both points adequately in one paper, so, on the
present occasion, we shall devote ourselves to col-
lecting, leaving the arrangement and matters con-
nected therewith for another occasion.

The great aim to be kept in view in collecting is
to obtain as perfect and comprehensive a specimen
as possible ; that is, one showing every part of the
.plant — root, leaves, flowers, and fruit. It is not

118

FLOWERING PLANTS AND FERNS.
Fif. 31.

foung Plant of Ipomcea QuamocUt (from Decandolle's ' Organogvaphie %

FLOWERING PLANTS AND FERNS. 119

always practicable to show all these upon one speci-
men, and in such cases such a number must be
selected as will carry out this plan. The wretched
scraps with which some collectors content themselves
are not only useless to their owners, but annoyances
to everyone who has to do with them, or who is
requested to pronounce an opinion upon them.
Anyone who has had anything to do with naming
plants for * Science Gossip,' or any other journal,
which in this manner supplies information to its
subscribers, will be able to testify to the large
number of persons who do not scruple to send for
determination single leaves, or a terminal shoot of a
flowering plant, or a pinnule of a fern without fruit ;
a proceeding which is unfair to those to whom they
are submitted, inasmuch as they either have to risk
their reputation for accuracy, or to appear un-
courteous by refusing to have anything to do with
such specimens.

To begin at the beginning, How rarely do we find
the embryo of any species represented in a collection
of dried plants? It ought to be there, not only as
essential to the complete presentment of the history
of the species, but as in certain cases indicating
relationships which are not apparent when the plant
is more advanced. Those who have not observed
them would be surprised to find how much variety
of form exists in the cotyledons alone, from the

120

FLOWERING PLANTS AND FERNS.

fleshy cotyledons of many of the Leguminosse, the
horse-chestnut, &c., to the foliaceous ones, or seed-
leaves, of other plants. Among the latter may be
noted and compared the lobed or palmate cotyledons
of the lime (Fig. 32) ; the glossy dark green, some-
Fig. 32.

Lime (Tilia Europaa).

what kidney-shaped ones of the beech (Fig, 33);
and the pinnatifid ones of the common garden cress
(Lepidium sativum) ; the obcordate ones of the mus-
tard or radish ; the long, narrow, thin ones of the

FLOWERING PLANTS AND FERNS.

121

•sycamore (Fig. 34) ; the sinuous or corrugated and
bilobed ones of the walnut, and many more which will

Fig. 33.

Beech (Fagus sylvaticet).

FLOWERING PLANTS AND FERNS.

occur to the observant reader, or which may be col-
lected by anyone who will take the trouble to watch
the germination of plants. And by making such
collections, unexpected discoveries may arise, which

Fig. 34.

Sycamore (Acer pseudo-platanus), showing cotyledons and first and
second pair of leaves.

will yet further confirm what has been said about
the variety in form and structure even in these
beginnings of growth. Plants which are, on ac-

FLOWERING PLANTS AND FERNS. 123

count of their general affinities, reckoned among the
dicotyledons, may be found on investigation to have
but one cotyledon, as Dr. Dickson observed to be
the case with two of our butterworts, Pinguicula
vulgaris and P. grandiflora, the third species, P. lusi-
tanica, being dicotyledonous ; or even to be acoty-
ledonous, as is the case with the dodder (Cuscuta)..
In the latter-named genus, it is of importance to
collect young specimens, as showing that the plant,
although parasitic as soon as it comes in contact with
a suitable foster-plant, is of independent origin. A
search among young plants will no doubt lead to the
discovery of some abnormalities, such as tricotyle-
donous embryos and other irregularities. Of some
plants, such as the furze, the true leaves can only be
found at an early stage of growth ; in others, much
variation may be noted in many points between the
first leaves and the more perfect ones which succeed
them ; some, as the holly, at once developing leaves,
similar to those which are produced throughout the
life of the plant, and others going through many
modifications before the ultimate shape is attained,.
as in the ash, elder, ivy, maple, &c.

The roots or rhizomes also require to be much
more fully represented and carefully collected than
is usually the case. In every instance where the
size of the plant does not prevent, the subterranean.

124 FLOWERING PLANTS AND FERNS.

and subaqueous parts should be carefully procured
and preserved.

Dr. Trimen has lately directed attention to the
corm-like tubers of the water plantain (AUsma)*
closely resembling those of the arrowhead (Sagitta-
ria), which have been described and figured by
Nolte, but " do not seem to have been observed, or
at least properly understood, in this country. They
are buds remaining dormant through the winter,
and containing a store of nutriment, to be employed
in the development of the new plant from the tuber
in the next year." Similar bulbs are developed by
the frogbit (Hydrocharis). In determining many
grasses and rushes, it is of importance to ascertain
whether the rhizome is creeping or caespitose, and it
is therefore essential to collect good specimens. In
the case of such plants as the coral- wort (Dentaria
bullifera) and toothwort (Lafhrsea squamaria), the
root-stocks are eminently characteristic. Of such
parasites as the broomrapes (Orobanche), some care
is requisite in obtaining specimens in which the
connection between the parasite and its foster-plant
may be preserved and shown. The absence or pre-
sence of tubers should also be noted, and if present,
they must be represented.

Passing on to the leaves, we may note the im-

* * Journal of Botany/ 1871, p. 306.

FLOWERING PLA.NTS AND FERNS.

portance of obtaining in every case the root-leaves
of each species. These are often very different in
form from the stem-leaves, as in such species as the
harebell (Campanula rotundifolia), Pimpinella saxi-
fraga, the earth-nut (Bunium flexuosum), and many
more ; in some instances, as in the Jersey bugloss
(Echium plantagineum), they at once characterize
the species. Still more important are these lower
leaves in the case of water-plants : in the arrowhead
(Sagittaria), for example, they are narrow, and re-
semble those of the bur-reed (Sparganium) ; and in
the water plantain (Alisma plantago), the submerged
leaves are equally different from those which rise out
of the water. This difference is still more noticeable
in the case of the aquatic Ranunculi, where a know-
ledge of the submerged leaves is essential to the
discrimination of the various forms or species.

Where practicable, the whole plant should be
collected for the herbarium ; but when, from its size,
this cannot be accomplished, leaves from the root,
the centre of the main stem, and the lateral branches,
should be taken. As to the stem itself, that must
be represented : in the EM, indeed, it is essential.
" To judge properly of a bramble from a preserved
specimen," says Professor Babington, " we require a
piece of the middle of the stem with more than one
leaf ; the base and tip of the stem are also desirable,

126 FLOWERING PLANTS AND FERNS.

likewise a piece of the old stem with the flowering
shoot attached to it ; the panicle with flowers, and
the fruit. We likewise want to know the direction
of the stem throughout, of the leaflets, and of the
calyx ; also the shape of the petals and the colour
of the styles : a note of these should be made when
the specimen is gathered."

Passing on to the flowers, we shall find it neces-
sary to represent them in almost every stage, from
the bud to the perfecting of the fruit. It is of
course in most cases possible to select an example
in such a state as to show upon the same plant buds,
flowers, and fruits; but where this is not the case,
•each of these particulars must be supplemented by
additional specimens. The turn which botanical
investigation has recently taken towards the study
of the phenomena connected with fertilization has
given the collector another subject to which his
-attention may be profitably directed. It has been
observed that in some plants the stamens are de-
veloped before the pistils ; in others, the pistils are
matured before the stamens; while in yet a third
set, stamens and pistils are simultaneously perfected.
These three groups of plants are termed respectively
protandrous, protogynous, and cynacmic, and a very
little observation will show7 that examples of each
are sufficiently common.

FLOWERING PLANTS AND FERNS. 127

Then in dioecious and monoecious plants, both
•male and female flowers must be collected, and in
some cases, as in the willows, four specimens are
accessary to the complete presentment of the species,
showing respectively the male and female catkins,
the leaves, and the fruit. Some plants produce two
listinct forms of blossom, as is noticeable in the
violets and the woodsorrel, one being conspicuous
and usually barren, the other insignificant and often
apetalous, but producing perfect fruit. The pollen
will afford occupation to the microscopist : the re-
searches of Mr. Gulliver and Mr. Charles Bailey
have demonstrated that important distinguishing
characters are in some instances furnished by it.
While on this point it may be suggested that it is
convenient in many cases to collect several specimens
jf the flowers alone, which, when dried, should be
placed in a small envelope or capsule, and attached
to the sheet on which the plant is represented. In
the event of any examination which may be requisite
ifter the plant is dried, these detached blossoms will
be found very useful, and will prevent the necessity
of damaging the specimen. In the case of such
plants as shed their corollas very readily, as the
speedwells, it is as well to put them in press as
soon as collected ; and the colour of many may be
retained bv the same means.

128 FLOWERING PLANTS AND FERNS.

The fruits and seeds of plants are too generally
neglected by amateur collectors, but are essential to
the completeness of a specimen. It may be found
practically convenient to keep these in a separate
place, and detached from the plant; and in many
cases of dried fruits it is advisable to sort them into
their places without previous pressing. By this
means the modes of dehiscence will readily be seen :
pulpy and succulent fruits should be preserved in
spirit. In such plants as the species of sea sand wort
(Lepigonum), and some Chenopodia, important specific
characters are drawn from the seed ; as they are
from the pods of Melilotus and the fruits of Agrimonia.
In collecting ferns, well-fruited fronds must be
selected, as it is impossible to determine specimens
without fructification. Grasses should be selected
when in flower and fruit, but must not be allowed to
attain too great an age before they are collected.

We have been speaking so far of the things to be-
collected, and space will not allow us to dilate at
any length upon the apparatus necessary to that
end. Nor indeed is this necessary; a good-sized
vasculum, with one or two smaller boxes for the
pocket, in which the more delicate plants may be
preserved; a strong pocket-knife or small trowel,
for procuring roots, and a hooked stick wherewith to
fish out water-plants, or pull down branches, are the

FLOWERING PLANTS AND FERNS. 121)

principal things required. To anyone residing for
any length of time, or even only for a few days, in
a district, a "London Catalogue" is an important
acquisition, in which should be marked off all the
species met with ; by this means the flora of the
neighbourhood is ascertained at a very slight ex-
penditure of time and trouble. It is not advisable
to collect too many plants at once, or to crowd the
Yasculum, unless under exceptional circumstances ;
nor should the desire to possess rare plants tend, as
is too often the case, to the neglect and exclusion of
commoner ones.

A careful and observant collector will frequently
meet \\ith forms which deviate more or less from
the accepted type of a species. When these appear
to offer any marked characters, they should be noted ;
and in all cases it is well to preserve any forms
which, from external circumstances, have a different
appearance from the normal state. The differences
produced by soil and situation alone are very con-
siderable ; and though the essential characters are
usually to be discerned, the interest and value of a
herbarium are very much increased by a selection of
examples showing the range of a species. Campanula
glomerata offers a good example of this. In damp
meadows it is from one to two feet high, with a
large spreading terminal head of blossoms, while on

K

130 FLOWERING PLANTS AND FERNS.

chalk downs it does not attain more than as many
inches, with only one or two flowers ; in this state it
was described by Withering as a gentian, under the
name of Geniiana collina; and the same author
gives as Campanula uniflora a one-flowered mountain
state of the harebell (C. rotundifolia).

The collector will also do well to keep a look-out
for deviations in structure, which are often of great
interest. In short, nothing should be neglected
which can tend to the perfect presentment of a
species in the herbarium : its utility is commensurate
with its completeness. The mere collector may be
satisfied with scraps of a rare plant and the absence
of commoner species ; but the real worker will pride
himself rather upon the possession of instructive
examples, which may be of assistance to himself, as
well as to all those who may consult them.

FLOWERING PLANTS AND FERNS. 131

IX.

FLOWERING PLANTS AND FERNS.

BY JAMES BRITTEN, F.L.S.

PART II.

WE will assume that our collecting for the year
has come to a close ; that the long evenings are
beginning, and that our dried plants have been
brought together from their temporary resting-places
to be revised and selected from, so that they may be
intercalated in their places in the herbarium, if we
already possess one, or, if we are as yet quite novices,
that they may form a nucleus around which the
whole British flora shall be gathered in due course.
First of all, we must make all necessary preparation
for—

Mounting, the first essential to which is paper.
Much of the neatness of a herbarium depends upon
its uniformity, so that it is desirable to lay down a
definite plan at the beginning and to act up to it
consistently. Amateurs often spoil specimens which
they have collected and preserved with considerable
care by transferring them from one sheet to another ;
from books — but it is only very amateur botanists

K 2

132 FLOWERING PLANTS AND FERNS.

who keep their plants in this way ! — to loose sheets^
from small paper to large, and so on; each change
being attended with some slight damage to the
specimen so treated. It is, I believe, the common
practice on the Continent to keep the specimens
loose in folded sheets of paper ; but this plan is not
followed in England, and although advantageous, as
permitting the fullest examination of the plant, it is
attended with much risk to the specimens in the
way of breakage ; so that we may consider it settled
that we are going to fasten our plant down upon a
sheet of paper. This must be rather stout, and large
enough to admit the full representation of the
species. The sheets used at the Kew Herbarium
are 16J inches long by 10^ inches wide; those em-
ployed at the British Museum are 17 J inches by
Hi inches; but the former will be found amply
sufficient for our purpose. The next consideration.
is the means by which the specimens are to be
secured, which are more various than might at first
be supposed. Some persons sew them to the paper ;
others p^ace straps over them, which are secured
with small pins; but the choice practically lies
between fixing. the whole specimen to the paper with
gum, paste, or glue, or securing it with straps of
gummed paper. The former plan, which is that
adopted at our great public herbaria, is certainly

FLOWERING PLANTS AND FERNS. 133

better for specimens which are likely to be much
consulted; but the latter is in some respects more
satisfactory, if somewhat tedious, as it admits the
removal of the plant to another sheet if necessary,
and delicate portions, such as thin petals or leaves,
are not injured as they are when gummed down. At
the British Museum and Kew a mixture of gum
tragacanth and gum-arabic (the former dissolved in
the latter), in about equal parts, is used for this pur-
pose; but very coriaceous specimens are secured
with glue at the last-named establishment, while in
the former the stems and ends of branches are
.usually also secured with straps. When the speci-
men is entirely gummed down, it is a good plan to
keep a few extra flowers or fruits in a small capsule
attached to the sheet: these will be useful if it is
required to dissect such portions, and the specimen
need not be injured for such purpose.

Poisoning. — Some persons are in the habit of
employing a solution of corrosive sublimate for the
purpose of washing over their plants when mounted,
and so preventing the development of animal life.
The solution in use at the Kew Herbarium is com-
posed of one pound of corrosive sublimate, and the
same quantity of carbolic acid to four gallons of
methylated spirit ; this fulfils the purpose for which
it is intended very well, but is somewhat disagreeable

FLOWERING PLANTS AND FERNS.

to use. At the British Museum it is found that the
presence of camphor, frequently renewed in each
cabinet, is sufficient to prevent the attacks of insects.
It will soon be discovered that some plants, such, for
example, as the UmbeHiferte and Grossulariacese, are
peculiarly liable to such attacks ; and these orders
must be inspected from time to time, so that any
insect ravages may at once be checked. Damp is to
be avoided in the situation of the herbarium, as it
favours the development not only of insects but of
mould, and renders the specimens rotten.

The question of labelling is of some importance,
especially to those who value neatness and uni-
formity in the appearance of their herbarium. One
or two sets of printed labels for this purpose have
been issued, but they cannot be recommended.
They give more than is necessary, e. g. the English,,
or, more correctly, the book-English names, the
general habitats, and definite localities of rare spe-
cies, and allow very insufficient space for filling in
the date and place of collecting, the name of the col-
lector, and such remarks as occasionally occur. The
plan of writing all necessary information upon the
sheet itself is a good one ; but those who prefer a
uniform series of labels will find that a form like
the following is as useful as any which they can
adopt, and includes all necessary information. The

FLOWERING PLANTS AND FERNS. 135

size here given will be adequate for almost all
requirements, and is a "happy medium" between
the small tickets upon which we have animadverted,
and the enormous ones with which some botanists
think it necessary to accompany their specimens.
Care should be taken to avoid the possibility of a
misplacement of labels ; many serious blunders have
arisen from the neglect of due precaution in this
matter.

Herb. John Smith.

Kanimculus acris, L.
& K. Steveni, Reich.

Loc. Meadows near Barchester.

DATE, June 30, 1874.

COLL. John Smith.

Arrangement. — The plants, being now affixed to
their respective sheets and duly labelled, are ready
to be placed in covers, and rendered available for
ready reference. Each genus will require a separate
cover, which may well be of somewhat stouter paper
than that on which the plants are mounted ; the
name of the genus should be written at the left-

136 FLOWERING PLANTS AND FERNS.

hand corner, followed by a reference to the page of
the manual by which the plants are arranged, or
to the number which it bears in the "London Cata-
logue," if that be employed in their arrangement — a
purpose for which it is very suitable. Should the
species be represented by more than one sheet, it is
convenient to inclose each in a cover of thinner
paper, which, may bear the number assigned to the
plant in the right-hand corner ; and it is also con-
venient to write the name of the plant at the bottom
of each sheet, and to number it also in the right-
hand corner. These details may appear trivial, but
they in reality affect in no small degree the readi-
ness with which any species may be referred to.
Should the plants be arranged in accordance with
the "London Catalogue," a copy should be kept with
the herbarium, in which the plants should be ticked
off, so that it may serve as a catalogue of the species
represented.

Cabinets. — It will of course be necessary to provide
some accommodation for our specimens, and for this
purpose we shall find no better model than the
cabinets in use in the Botanical Department of the
British Museum. The accompanying figure (drawn
to scale) is an exact representation of one of these.
The measurements can of course be modified so as
to suit the size of the herbarium sheets. Each shelf

FLOWERING PLANTS AND FERNS.

137

is a separate drawer, which with its contents can be
taken out and replaced at will. Two cabinets such

Fig. 35.

Cabinet for Herbarium Sheets.

as that figured will be found amply sufficient to
contain a very good British herbarium. At Kew
the cabinets employed are somewhat similar, but
their height is greater and the shelves are fixed.

138 FLOWERING PLANTS AND FERNS.

The above are the principal points connected with
the arrangement of a herbarium, considered as dis-
tinct from the work' of collecting. It is possible
that I may have omitted to touch upon certain
details which may occur to the amateur ; should
such be the case, I may add that I shall be happy
to supply any additional information, either by letter
or by word of mouth ; or to show the system adopted
at the British Museum to anyone who may call upon
me there for further hints upon the subject.

GRASSES, ETC.

X.

GRASSES, ETC.
BY PKOFESSOR BUCKMAN, F.G.S., ETC.

GRASSES form such a distinct group of plants, and
their study is so often undertaken for special pur-
poses, that a few remarks upon their collection and
preservation can hardly be considered as out of place
in this little manual.

Delicately as grasses are formed, yet it cannot be
said that their tissues are so liable to injury, or their
colours so evanescent, as those of the flowering plants
which the botanist ordinarily delights in. Nor in-
deed are the grasses so succulent as many other
herbs. In this respect they may be said to hold a
place between ferns and those plants which usually
are called flowers.

Again, in the dried state their organs are generally
so well preserved as to present all that a botanist can
wish for, for identification as well as arrangement ;
and the student of grasses ever finds his collection
to contain beauties not only in point of rarity, but
as regards delicacy of structure and grace of outline.

Viewing them in this light alone, we have often.

140 GRASSES, ETC.

been astonished that so many students of plants pay
so little attention to them, and this feeling is en-
hanced when the great value of the grasses is con-
sidered.

If then a few simple directions for preserving
these plants shall have the effect of winning a con-
vert to these views, we shall be delighted ; and to
this end we shall make our descriptions as plain as
our process has ever been easy and simple, and yet
complete.

In collecting grasses, as in other tribes of plants,
it will be necessary that our specimens should be
•chosen with the view to exhibit every feature of
interest. With this aim, then, it will be best in the
general way to obtain as much of the plant as possible,
so that it may be necessary to get them up by the
roots. Still, in many species the root is not of much
importance : but there are a few which possess
rhizomata, or underground stems ; such as the Triti-
cum repens, Poa pratensis, P. compressa, Holcus mollis,
Agrostis stolonifera, and others. These should always
exhibit these parts ; and as such examples are usually
agrarian, it is easier to mark down desirable speci-
mens and seek a fork at the neighbouring farm-
buildings wherewith to completely get them out,
than to carry any substitute in a smaller and less
perfect implement.

GRASSES, ETC. 141

Having made these remarks, we will suppose that
we are now about to sally forth in search of grasses ;
in which case we make the following preparations.

As we do not file our copy of the ' Times/ we
make use of it as collecting-paper as follows : — Each
side of the paper is cut in two, or, as a Cockney would
say, " in half." Each half is then folded into a
double collecting-sheet, and as many of these are
taken as are likely to be useful. In each of these
papers is put a small slip of writing-paper, on which
to note the locality and any other noteworthy fact
connected with a specimen when put in the paper.
These papers, separately folded, are placed with the
open ends inwards in a convenient portfolio, and the
collector is ready to take the field.

Of course there will be those who will advocate
Bentall's drying-paper, blotting-paper, and so on, and
we would not have it supposed that we despise these
luxuries ; but as we have found the plan advocated
always to answer the purpose for grasses, we have
felt independent of the more refined collecting-
papers.

Now let us suppose that we have gathered fifty
specimens, and have returned home. The next
thing will be to put them as soon as may be in a
position for drying.

Our drying apparatus then consists of half-a-dozen

142 GRASSES, ETC.

smoothly planed deal boards, and for our first collec-
tion we take two of these, and upon one we lay some
few folds of our old ' Times,' then a specimen in their
papers (having previously improved their arrange-
ment, when necessary), and then some more folds of
paper, and proceed as before, until all the specimens
have been placed ; then put a board on the top sheet,
and upon that a stone, or a 7 or 14 Ib. weight, accord-
ing to the size and quantity of the specimens. If
.another day's collection of specimens bo made before
the foregoing are dry, they may be arranged in the
same way on the top board, and another board used
.and the weight replaced. The object of this is to
keep partially dried from fresh specimens, the putting
together of which is a fertile source of mildew and
decay.

In arranging our specimens for the herbarium, we
procure sheets of cartridge paper 18 inches long by
11 inches wide, using a folded sheet for each species.

In these papers the specimens are fastened down
,in the following manner :

Gum over a portion of the cartridge paper (so as
to have the same colour) with two consecutive coats
•of a clean solution of gum-arabic.

This can be cut into slips of any length and breadth,
making them as narrow as possible for the sake of
neatness, and when the specimen is placed in its

GRASSES, ETC. 143

paper, a few of these slips may be made to confine
it in the desired position. Each example is then
to be labelled at the bottom of the sheet, and each
label should set forth — a, Its botanical name ; b, its
trivial or local name ; c, the locality whence it was
obtained; d, the date when gathered; added to
which, if presented, the donor's name.*

The sheets so prepared may be arranged in groups
or genera, each being folded in convenient paper or
cloth wrappers, and the whole arranged in volumes
of stiff covered portfolio.

This, then, is all that seems to us necessary in the
collection and preservation of grasses ; but we would
recommend the student, if an artist, to make a typical
specimen of each sit for its portrait. In this way we
have made drawings of all the species and varieties
that have come in our way.

Our drawings are life-size, usually lined in with
Indian ink with a fine " lithographic pen." These
we partially colour on the spot.

The anatomical details are much enlarged and
always fully coloured. To this end our impedimenta
for a day among the grasses consist of, besides the
collecting portfolio, a sketching block, large octavo
size, and a small box of soft colours. Armed with

* Printed herbarium labels may be got at Messrs. Hardwicke
and Bogue's, the publishers.

144 GRASSES, ETC.

these we have made many a drawing of a grass under
the shade of a tree, or in the parlour of some con-
tiguous inn.

Lastly, we would venture to remark, if, besides the
interest which grasses should have for the student of
botany, these plants be viewed, as they have ever
been by us, as indicators of the nature of soil and
the value and capabilities of the land on which
they grow, the collector should not fail to make
notes connected with the soil, situation, and other
practical facts connected with the habitats of
GRASSES.

MOSSES.

XI.

MOSSES.
BY DR. BRAITHWAITE, F.L.S., ETC.

IN making a collection of the vegetable productions
of a country we find considerable differences in the
structure of the various groups of plants, and in the
tissues of which they are composed ; and hence special
manipulation is requisite in dealing with certain
orders. Some are of so succulent a nature, or have
a framework so easily disintegrated, that they contain
within themselves the elements of destruction, and
present the greatest difficulty in satisfactory pre-
servation, while others are so slightly acted on by
external agents, that little trouble is required to
prepare specimens of permanent beauty.

The Ferns and Lycopods, being generally appro-
priated by the collector of flowering plants, will be
treated on with the latter, and following these come
the Mosses, to which we will now direct attention,
taking the alliance in its broadest sense, as including
the three groups of Frondose Mosses, Bog Mosses, and
Liver Mosses, or Hepatic^, all of which are readily

146 MOSSES.

collected and preserved, and yield an endless fund
of instructive entertainment to the microscopist.
But it may be asked, Where is the game to be
found ? Where are the pleasant hunting-grounds in
which they most do congregate ? We answer, every-
where may some species or other be met with ; yet,
though many are cosmopolitan, the majority have
their special habitats, and some their special seasons,
both being considerably influenced by the presence
of moisture.

Collecting. — The bryologist has one advantage over
the phsenogamous botanist, for it is not impera-
tive that mosses should be laid out and pressed
immediately ; and hence less care is required in
collecting them, than is bestowed on flowering
plants; the necessary apparatus is confined to a
pocket-knife, to remove specimens from stones or
trees, a stock of stout waste paper, and a vasculum,
or, better still, a strong bag, in which to carry the
packets. When collecting the plants, it is well to
remove any superfluous earth or stones, or to squeeze
out the water from those found in bogs ; and then
each is to be wrapped separately in paper, and the
locality marked outside ; or the more minute species
may, for greater safety, be placed in chip boxes.
On reaching home, if we do not prepare the speci-
mens at once, we must not leave the parcels packed

MOSSES. 147

together in their receptacle, or mould will soon
attack them and spoil the whole; but we must
spread them out on the floor until quite dry, and
then reserve them to a convenient opportunity to
lay out ; as in the dry state they may be kept for
years unchanged.

It often happens that our line of study is deve-
loped by some fortuitous circumstance. A neglected
flowerpot in the corner of the garden attracts atten-
tion by its verdant carpet of moss, or, peeping over
the wall, we see the crevices between the bricks
bristling with capsules of Tortula muralis, the red
twisted peristome freshly brought to view by the
falling away of the lid, and, taking a bit indoors to
submit to the microscope, we are so captivated there-
with that we then and there determine to become a
bryologist. Nor is this all that a journey round the
garden will disclose : the neglected paths yield other
species not less worthy of examination, and old apple-
trees are not unfrequently tenanted by mosses.

Extending our walks to the commons, lanes, and
woods, we may find on the ground and banks, in
bogs and on the stumps and trunks of trees, a
number of species greatly extending our list ; while
others again are only met with on the clay soil of
stubble-fields, as various species of Pottia and Ephe-
merum : appearing in October, their delicate texture

L2

148 MOSSES.

is developed by the constant moisture of winter, and
with it also they vanish, to appear no more until
the succeeding season. Travelling yet farther away,
we find that each locality we visit yields some
novelty : old walls and rocks of sandstone or slate,
limestone districts, and, above all, a mountainous
country, are rich in species we seek in vain else-
where. Here peat bogs, and rocks dripping with
water, ever supplied by the atmosphere, or the
tumbling streams everywhere met with, are the
chosen homes of these little plants, and thither must
the collector resort, if he would reap his richest
harvest. Winter and spring in the lowlands, and a
later period in the elevated districts, will be found
most productive of fruiting plants.

Preparation of Specimens. — So rapidly does the
cellular texture of the mosses transmit fluid, that,
when soaked in water, we see them swell up and
expand their little leaves, and in a short time look
as fresh as when growing ; hence a basin of water,
a towel, and drying-paper are all we require to
prepare our specimens for the herbarium. If the
tufts are large, we must separate them into patches
sufficiently thin to lie flat, and by repeated washing,
get rid of adherent earth, mud, or gravel. This is
conveniently accomplished by holding the tuft in
the palm of the hand, under a tap, and allowing a
stream of water to pass through it ; then by pressure

MOSSES. 149

in the folding towel we remove superfluous moisture
and immediately transfer to paper, arranging the
plants as we wish them to lie permanently, and
placing with each a ticket bearing the name: a
moderate weight is sufficient to dry them, as with
great pressure the capsules split, and thus the value
of the specimen is decreased. It not unfrequently
happens that two or three species grow intermixed :
these must be carefully separated at the time of
soaking, and any capsules required to show the
peristome must also be removed before the plants
are submitted to pressure.

Examination of Specimens. — We have very much
to learn about a moss before we can become masters
of all the characters that pertain to it as a specific
individual. We must observe its branching, the
mode of attachment of the leaves to the stem, and
their direction ; the form and structure of a separate
leaf, the position of the male flowers, and, lastly, the
position and structure of the fruit. For the efficient
determination of these we require a microscope (the
simple dissecting microscope is amply sufficient), a
couple of sharp-edged, triangular needles fixed in
handles, and a few glass slides and covers. Having
soaked our specimen in water, we lay it on a slide,
and by cutting through the stem with one of the
needles, close to the attachment of a leaf, we can
readily remove the leaf entire, and two or three

150

MOSSES.

may be transferred to another slide, and placed in a
drop of water under a cover : the same thing may be
coughly accomplished by scraping the stem back-
wards with one of the needles ; but in this way the
leaves are often torn.

Fig. 36.

Tortilla muralis.

a. Leaf and its areolation. b. Capsule, c. Calyptra. a. Lid.
e. Male flower. /. Antheridia and paraphyses.

By examination of a leaf we notice its form, the
condition of its margin, whether entire or serrated
or bordered ; the presence and extent of the nerve ;
and lastly, and most important of all, the form and
condition of its component cells; and for this a
higher power is required. With a |-inch object-
glass and C eyepiece we can observe their form, and
whether their walls are thickened so as to render

MOSSES. 151

them dot-like ; their contents, whether chloro-
phyllose or hyaline ; and their surface, whether
smooth or covered with papillae ; for often these
points are so characteristic, that by them alone we
can at once refer a barren specimen to its proper
family or genus.

Preservation of Specimens. — This may be dis-
cussed under two heads : 1st, as microscopic objects ;
2nd, for the herbarium.

1. The parts required for microscopic examina-
tion are the capsules and peristome, entire speci-
mens of the smaller species, and detached leaves.
The capsules having to be viewed by condensed
light, must be mounted dry as opaque objects; and
for this purpose I use Piper's wooden slides, with
revolving bone cover ; and in one of these we may
fix a capsule with the lid still attached, another
laid on its side, but showing the peristome, and a
third with the mouth of the capsule looking upward,
a position very useful for the species of Orthotri-
clium, as we are thus enabled to see the inner
peristome ; and with them also may be placed the
calyptra: should the cost of these be an object, a
cheaper substitute may be found in shallow pill-boxes,
blackened on the inside.

To preserve the leaves in an expanded state we
may employ the fluid media used for vegetable

152

MOSSES.

tissues, or, when time is of consequence, Rimming-
ton's glycerine jelly is a convenient material in
which to mount them, a ring of dammar cement
being first placed on the slide, and within this the
liquefied jelly, to which the expanded specimen is
quickly transferred, and the cover securely sealed
by gold size. Preparations of this kind are of the
highest value as types for comparison with actual
specimens we may have for determination.

Fig. 37,

Ceralodon purpurens.

a, Male plant. 1. Leaf and its areolation. 2. Capsule. 3. Calyptra
4. Two teeth of the peristome.

2. In mounting specimens for the herbarium we
must be guided by the limits which we have fixed
on for the extent of the same; and I may first
describe the method adopted for my own collection.

MOSSES.

Every species has a separate leaf of cartridge-paper
measuring 14J x 10J inches, and on this the speci-
mens are fixed, each mounted by a little gum on a
piece of toned paper ; thus 4 or 6 to 12 specimens,
according to size, are attached to each leaf, — varieties
have one or more additional leaves^ and to each is
also fixed a triangular envelope, inclosing loose
capsules and leaves for ready transfer to the micro-
scope, and also a label indicating the name, habitat,
and date of collection. A pink cover for each genus
includes the species, and a stout millboard cover
embraces the genera of each family, with the name
of which it is labelled outside, the whole shutting up
in a cabinet.

Another form is that seen in Kabenhorst's Bry-
otheca Europsea, quarto volumes of 50 specimens,
one occupying each leaf, and so arranged that the
specimens do not come opposite to each other.
Others again use loose sheets of note-paper, within
each of which a single specimen is mounted; but
this, from their size, is very cumbersome. Or we
may take a single well-chosen typical specimen and
arrange many species on a page, as is seen in the
beautiful volume of Gardiner's 'British Mosses' or
Mclvor's 'Hepaticse Britannicae.' Whatever plan
we adopt, our specimens, once well dried and kept in
<a dry place, are unchangeable, and are always looked

154 MOSSES.

upon with pleasure, each recalling some pleasing"
associations, or perchance reminding us of some long-
lost friend, in companionship with whom they were
collected or studied. A stock of duplicates must
also be reserved, from which to supply our friends,
or exchange with other collectors for desiderata in
our own series : these may be kept in square cases
of various sizes, cut so as to allow the edges of the
top and sides to wrap over the other half folded
down on the specimens.

The Hepaticae of the family Jungermanniacese are-
treated precisely as mosses, the capsules, however,
show but little diversity, and will not require sepa-
rate preservation ; but the elaters, or spiral threads-
accompanying the seeds, are elegant microscopic
objects. The Marchantiacese must be pressed when
fresh, as they do not revive with the same facility as
other species, owing to their succulent nature an(/
numerous layers of cells.

Classification. — On this I have fully treated else-
where (" The Moss World," * Popular Science Be view,'
Oct., 1871), and it may suffice here simply to indicate
the families of British mosses and their mode of
arrangement. The cell-texture of the leaf takes an
important place in the characters, and in accordance
with this principle the Cleistocarpous or Phascoid
group is broken up and distributed in various families.

MOSSES.

155

We have two orders; one indeed, comprising only
the genus Andresea, is distinguished by the capsule
splitting into four valves united at apex ; the other,,
including the bulk of the species, has in most cases
a lid, which separates transversely, and usually
discloses a peristome of tooth-like processes. The
structure of these teeth again enables us to form
three divisions. In the first they consist of a mass
of confluent cells; in the second, of tongue-shaped
processes, composed of agglutinated filaments ; and
in the third, of a double layer of cells, transversely
articulated to each other, the outer layer composed
of two rows of firm coloured cells, the inner of a
single series of vesicular hyaline cells, on which the
hygroscopic quality of the tooth depends.

Sub-Class SPHAGNIN.E.

Bog Mosses.
Fam. 1. — Sphagnacese.

Sub-Class BRYINJE.

Frondose Mosses.
Order 1. — SCHISTOCARPI.

Fam. 1. — Andreseacese.
Order 2. — STEGOCARPI.

Div. 1. — Elasmodontes.

Farn. 2. Georgiacese,
Div. 2. — Ncmatodontes.

Farn. 3. — BuxbaumiaceaB.

Fam. 4. — Polytrichaceae.

156

MOSSES.

Div. 3. — Arthrodontes.

Subdiv. 1.— Acrocarpici.
*Distichophylla.
Fam. 5. Schistostegacese.
**Polystichophylla.

Fam. 7. DicranacesB.

„ 8. Leucobryacese.

„ 9. Trichostomacese.

,, 10. Grimmiacese.

,, 11. Orthotrichacese.

| Fam. 6. Fissidentacese.

Fam. 12. SplachnacesB.
„ 13. FunariaceaB.
„ 14. Bryacese.
„ 15. Mniacese.
„ 16. BartramiacesB.

Subdiv. 2. — Pleurocarpici.

Fam. 17. Hookeriaceae.
„ 18. Fontinalacese.
19. Neckeracese.

Fam. 20. Leskeacese.
„ 21. Hypnaceae.

Sub-Class HEPATICIN^E.

Liver Mosses.
Fam. 1. Jungermanniacese. I Fam. 3. Anthocerotacese.

2. Marchantiacese.

4. Eicciacese.

Among species which may be generally met with
by beginners on the look-out for mosses, we may
enumerate the following :

On Walls. — Tortula muralis and revoluta, Bryum
capillare and csespiticium, Grrimmia pulvinata, Weisia
cirrhata.

In Clay Fields.— Phascum acaulon, Pottia trun-
catula and Starkeana.

On Waste Ground and Heaths. — Ceratodon pur-
pureus, Funaria hygrometrica, Campylopus turfaceus,
Bryum argenteum, nutans, and pallens, Pleuridium
subulatum, Dicranella heteromalla and varia, Physco-
mitrium pyriforme, Pogonatum aloides, Polytrichunj

MOSSES. 157

commune, piliferum, and juniperimim, Tortula ungui-
culata and fallax, Bartramia pomiformis, Junger-
maimia bicuspidata, Lepidozia reptans, Ptilidium
ciliare, Frullania tamarisci.

Shady Banks and Woods. — Catharinea undulata,
Weisia viridula, Tortula subulata, Mnium hornum,
Dicranum scoparium, Hypnum rutabulum, veluti-
num, cupressiforme, praBlongum, purum, and mol-
luscum, Plagiothecium denticulatum, Pleurozium
splendens and Schreberi, Hylocomium squarrosum
and triquetrum, Thuyidium tamariscinum, Fissidens
bryoides, Plagiochila asplenioides, Jungermannia
albicans, Lophocolea bidentata.

In Bogs. — Sphagnum cymbifolium and acutifo-
lium, Grymnocybe palustris, Hypnum cuspidatum,
stellatum, aduncum, and fluitans, Jungermannia
inflata.

Bocks and ~by Streams. — Grimmia apocarpa, Tri-
dontium pellucidum, Hypnum serpens, filicinum,
commutatum, and palustre, Scapania nemorosa,
Metzgeria furcata, Marchantia polymorpha, Pellia
epiphylla, Fegatella conica.

On Trees. — Ulota crispa, Orthotrichum affine and
diaphanum, Cryphsea heteromalla, Homalia tricho-
manoides, Hypnum sericeum, Isothecium myurum,
Frullania dilatata, Badula complanata, Madotheca
platyphylla.

158 MOSSES.

Small as this list is, it wilt be found to yield
ample store for investigation, and if true love for the
study be thereby excited, the circle of forms will be
found to widen with every new locality visited. If
we have contributed in any way to facilitate the
pursuit, then is our object fulfilled, and we may con-
clude with the words of Horace :

Vive, vale ! si quid novisti rectius istis,
Candidus imperti, si non, his utere mecum.

FUNGI. 159

XII.

FUNGI.

BY WORTHINGTON G. SMITH, F.L.S.

WITH the fogs and rains of autumn the fungologist's
harvest begins. A few fungi (large and small) ap-
pertain to the spring, and some species may be
found in every month of the year ; but it is not till
September has well set in, or October is reached,
that the glut of fungi is really upon us. Fungi
may generally be met with in abundance for three
months of the year ; viz. from the latter half of
September till the middle of December, the month
of October taking pre-eminence for producing the
greatest abundance of species. A season of moderate
heat and rain is the most productive, for an exces-
sive amount of either dryness or moisture appears to
destroy the fecundity of the mycelium, which it
must always be remembered is alive and at work
(underground) the whole of the year; for, as a
matter of course, this year's fungi is produced from
last year's spores. These spores are set free in
autumn, and at once vegetate and form masses of
mycelium, from which next year's crop must spring ;

160 FUNGI.

just as the seeds of our wild annuals are self-sown
at the fall of each year and first germinate at that
season. It is a great mistake to suppose that Aga-
rics and Boleti wait till the leaves fall, so that they
may prey upon them; for, as a rule, the larger fungi
never live upon the leaves of the same year as that
in which they (the fungi) come up ; fungi live
upon the fallen leaves of the previous autumn. The
spring and summer months will sometimes prove
very productive, especially after stormy weather;
but the collector must always bear in mind that
fungi, like all other things, have their seasons. I
have known the fungus harvest quite over by the
end of August, and I have also known it not come
in before December: it depends entirely upon a
certain amount of atmospheric heat and moisture.
A damp summer and stormy August will produce
the crop at the beginning of September ; but a dry
autumn, without much rain till November, will delay
the fungus crop till Christmas. Some species appear
regularly twice a year from the same mycelium; once
after the rains of March and April, and again in
October. This is the case with Coprinus atramenta-
rius, which I have growing (originally from spores)
in a bed of my own garden.

It is useless to go out specially to collect fungi,
either during the dry hot weather of summer or the

FUNGI. 161

frosts of winter; it sometimes, however, happens
that odd fungi may be found here and there, in out-
of-the-way places, such as the sides of open cellars
and sawpits, under bridges, on prostrate logs in
streams, in damp outhouses, or about old water-
butts, &c. ; therefore I never go out without two or
three old seidlitz-powder boxes, some thin paper,
and a strong knife, in case any waifs and strays
should fall in my way. I have sometimes found
good species in a friend's dustbin or cistern, or upon
the sides of the open cellar of a public-house. I once
found an agaricus on the cornice of London Bridge,
to secure which I had to get over the parapet, and was
nearly being taken into custody as one tired of life ;
another time I found a colony of Coprinus domesticus
upon a friend's scullery wall, and a Peziza upon
my brother's ceiling. Moral : Fungologists' pockets
should, at all times, contain one or two small boxes
for securing stray and erratic members of the fungus
family.

The equipment for a fungus foray differs with the
nature of the fungi to be collected. If the plants
sought for are wholly microscopic, a small vasculum,
knife, pocket-lens, and package of thin paper will
be found sufficient ; but if Agarics, Boleti, the larger
Polyporei, &c., are to be brought home, a more com-
plete set of things will be required, which should

M

162 FUNGI.

include a very small garden-trowel or carpenter's
gouge (any saddler or bootmaker will make a suit-
able leather case for the blades for a shilling or two),
a strong knife — such as gardeners use for pruning
trees, a few sheets of thin paper, a lens, pocket-com-
pass, and some string. If truffles are desired, a rake
is necessary, and the best plan is to carry the iron-
toothed end separately in a leather case, and made
to screw on to the end of a walking-stick ; when not
in use, this end can be carried in the pocket with
the trowel, &c. It is requisite that the vasculum be
large, with straps to carry it over the shoulders ;
and the collector should be provided with a set of
cardboard boxes, large and small, to go inside the
vasculum, and to contain the more delicate or choice
spoils of the day. Leather gloves and a thin great-
coat are good things for the chilly days of early
winter — this coat should be provided with at least
four large pockets ; and, if the weather is inclement,
strong boots and waterproof leggings will be found
serviceable. An old felt hat and large cotton um-
brella are also desirable, for it is only a piece of folly
to go into the wet dripping woods with good clothes.
As for the umbrella, it should be one of the Mrs.
Gamp pattern, of good size, and with a (removable)
ring at the end farthest from the handle, so that it
may be suspended from branches of trees, &c., whilst

FUNGI. 163

the fungi are sorted or examined below, or a frugal
luncheon is discussed (perhaps during a passing
storm of rain). The string will be found useful for
tying up the larger Polyporei ; these are frequently
of great size, and often weigh many pounds. In
collecting, all Agarics should be kept separate as
much as possible ; for this purpose thin paper, such
as is used by stationers and milliners, is indis-
pensable; every specimen should be wrapped very
lightly in a piece of thin paper before boxing, as
the elasticity of the paper not only prevents breaking
and bruising, but it also prevents the spores of one
species being scattered over another. In carrying
fungi about, or sending fresh specimens from one
place to another, nothing is so good as this thin
paper interspersed here and there with fronds of the
common bracken. Sawdust, hay, or wool, should
never, on any account, be used : such things totally
destroy the plants; but with, careful packing with
paper and bracken-fronds, fungi may be transported
for any distance, by rail or otherwise, perfectly
intact and undamaged. In packing the vasculum,
see that she heavier plants are at the bottom and
the lighter ones at the top ; for if packed otherwise
any fragile species will be certainly destroyed. I have
known a good collection of Agarics rendered worth-
less by a loose puff-ball being placed with them,

M 2

164 FUNGI.

which has rolled about with every movement of the
collector's body, and damaged big and little species
alike, when a piece of paper or a fern-frond or two,
to prevent rolling, would have kept all quite safe.

It is hardly necessary to specify localities, because
fungi abound everywhere. If leaf fungi are sought
for, hedge-sides will produce an abundant crop ; if
the Agaricini and Polyporei, forests and woods must
be ransacked ; if the edible species are wanted, rich
open pastures (with few exceptions) must be tra-
versed : the various species of truffles must be looked
for principally in leafy glades — many prefer a cal-
careous, subsoil, but at times they may be met with
even in hedge-sides, town parks, or elsewhere.

When the collection of the day is complete, no
species must be allowed to remain in the collecting-
cases all night ; for if the boxes are not carefully
opened and the contents laid out, it will probably
be found in the morning that some will have dis-
solved into an inky fluid, others will have got into
the treacle state, whilst a third lot will be overrun
with mould, or the smaller ones perhaps entirely
eaten up by slugs or larvaB. Few things decompose
so rapidly as fungi, especially the full-grown Boleti ;
these, though apparently perfectly sound one day,,
will sometimes be a horrible mass of fostid treacle
the next. I have sometimes received large parcels

FUNGI. It) 5

by rail or post when this horrible stinking* matter
has been dripping out, perhaps all over the carter's
hands or down the postman's trousers; for ladies
always will send Boleti in bonnet-boxes, tied with
thin twine. Should any extra charge be demanded,
on the ground of the insufficiently prepaid postage,
or the parcels be unpaid, I invariably refuse to take
them in, to the disgust of the parties bringing them.
I shall not soon forget an ill-tempered postman who
brought me two of these dripping treasures at the
same time last autumn, with a demand for extra
postage, and his look of silent disrelish as he walked
off with one twine-suspended bonnet-box in each
hand, the fragrant Boleti-treacle meanwhile mani-
festing itself upon the pavement. Even when quite
fresh, the odour of some species is disgusting in the
extreme ; for instance, a single specimen of Phallus
impudicus in the collecting-box will affect a whole
railway carriage with the most horrible and sicken-
ing stench ; whilst the curious truffle Melanogaster
ambiguus is perhaps worse still, for its abominable
odour is perfectly insufferable.

To dry and preserve a collection of fresh fungi is
at times a very difficult task; for instance, some
species are so entirely covered with a tenacious
gluten that if they were at once put between drying-
papers, it is certain they would never come out again

166

with the least chance of being recognized by even
the most acute fungologist ; others are so deli-
quescent that in an hour or two they would dissolve
into a watery mass, soak through all the paper, and
leave a mere dirty stain between the sheets where
the plant was originally placed. As a contrast, some
of the Polyporei (as the young state of Potyporus-
igniarius) are so hard that nothing but a steam-
hammer would have any chance of flattening them.
There is considerable difficulty in ridding the plants
from the larvse with which they are often infested.
A few drops of the oil of turpentine will, however^
generally drive them from Agarics and other fleshy
fungi ; and, in regard to the woody Polyporei, a good
plan is to place the plants in an oven, or on a hob
for a short time, where the heat is not too powerful
to destroy the plants, but still sufficiently potent
to drive the larvae from their holes. If this is not
done, the collector's experience will probably be the
same as mine has more than once been; viz. on
opening a package (which should contain some
choice dried fungus), to find only a stain, a few
skins of dead maggots, and a little dirt — in fact,
some of the species in my herbarium, though mostly
poisoned with corrosive sublimate, get entirely de-
voured by rapacious and poison-proof larvae, mitess
and minute beetles.

FUNGI. 167

In addition, however, to the mere drying, certain
notes and particulars are required, without which
the best dried specimens are worthless ; and, again,
for the larger fungi to be of real service, the spores
of each species must be separately preserved. As
regards the drying of the fleshy fungi themselves,
the process to observe is as follows : — Lay all ordi-
nary Agarics out separately in a dry place, or in a
current of dry air from six to twelve, or even twenty-
four hours, according to the species, so that they
may part with their superfluous moisture, and thus
facilitate drying. In the case of species with gluti-
nous pilei, it will be found that the gluten will more
or less set, if carefully attended to, in a dry warm
place. If the larger fleshy fungi are inadvertently
placed under a propagating-glass, or left on a lawn
or grassy place, or kept in damp air from over-night
till next morning, the chances are that they will
never properly dry at all. When the superfluous
moisture has evaporated they may be put gently
between drying-papers, but the weight put upon
them must at first be of the slightest kind ; ordi-
nary books, more or less light, will be found quite
sufficient; and few, or perhaps no other plants, re-
quire such frequent changing as Agarics. An hour,
or often less, suffices for the first pressure, when care
must be taken to supply them with fresh and per-

168

FUNGI.

fectly dry paper, or they will immediately mould.
It is a good plan, when the plants are half dry, to
take them out of the papers and put them in dry air,
or in a sunny place for a short time (the length of
time being determined by experience and the nature
of the species), to part with more of their moisture :
so, with constant attention and frequent changing of
the papers, very presentable specimens may at last
be obtained. These dried fungi will now be found
very useful for showing the more superficial cha-
racters of the plants ; but without sections, spores,
and proper notes, they will be next to useless. In
Agarics it is of the first importance to show the
nature of the attachment of the gills to the stem:
and should the stems be furnished with a volva or
annulus, this must be preserved with the greatest
care — young specimens, too, in different stages of
growth, are often of great value. If possible, it is
well to have a series of dried specimens of each
species ; one, as in Fig. 38, A, to display the nature
of the tubes in Boletus and the gills in the Agaricini,
whether they are thick or thin, crowded together or
distant from each other, plain or serrated, free or
annexed; another, as at B, to show the pileus,
whether smooth or floccose, plain, warted, or zoned,
and the nature of the margin, whether striate, bullate,
or plain ; a third, as at C, to show the attachment of

FUNGI.

169

pileus to stem in infancy; and, fourthly, a section
or thin slice removed from the exact middle of the
young plant from top to bottom, as at D : this will
show the nature of the veil (if present), and whether

Fig. 38.

Specimens showing the gills, rings, and stages of growtn.

universal or not ; and if absent, whether the margin
is at first straight, incurved, or involute. A similar
section through the mature plant is also required, E

170

FUNGI.

and F (Fig. 39) : this will give the attachment of
gills to stems (a character of great importance), and
the nature of the stem itself, whether solid, stuffed,
or hollow. Great care and experience are required to
cut a thin and perfect slice from the middle of a
tender Agaric or Boletus ; for there is often a sort
of articulation at the point G, which causes the slice
to fall in two. As for preserving fungi in fluids, I

Fig. 39.

Section cut through Agnricus.

think it in all ways undesirable. It may more or
less answer for single or unique specimens, or for
large museums, where space is of no consequence ;
but for all purposes of constant reference and private
study, any process of this sort is worthless. Few
persons, I imagine, would care to have hundreds (or
I might say thousands) of tolerably large glass bottles

FUNGI. 171

of fluids in their houses. It is essential that the
spores should be secured, as their colour and size are
very important. They may be preserved in various-
ways : if coloured, they are best kept on white paper,
and if white, on black glazed paper, such as is supplied
to photographers ; or they may be at once deposited
and kept on glass slides and covered, or between thin
sheets of mica, such as photographers use. I prefer
the spores free on paper, as they can easily be trans-
ferred to glass for examination by breathing on a
corner of a glass slide and just touching it on to the dry
spores; thousands will attach themselves to the glass,
and, moreover, the supply from one fungus appears
to be perfectly inexhaustible. To secure a good batch

Fig. 40.

of spores, it is not sufficient to let the Agaric merely
rest in the position shown at H (Fig. 40), for the
spores will not properly fall when this plan is
adopted; a far better one is to cut a small hole,
about the size of the diameter of the stem of the
fungus, in the centre of the paper on which the spores
are to be deposited : slip the stem through the hole,,

172

FUNGI.

Fig. 41.

carefully draw up the paper collar, and support the
fungus in a small pot, glass, or dry phial (placed
under a propagating-glass to keep the plant fresh) as
shown in Fig. 41. If it is wished to fix the spores,
let the paper be first washed with
a thin solution of gum-arabic, which
must be allowed to get perfectly
dry ; the spores may now fall upon
the dry gummed paper ; and after
the deposition the gummed surface
must be breathed upon to moisten
the gum, and when it has dried for
the second time the spores will be
fixed, and not readily rubbed off.

It is necessary to prepare the
woody specimens in a different man-
ner. They must first be perfectly
dried before the fire, or in the sun,
and then a thin slice must be sawn
(or cut with a powerful knife) out
of the middle. This slice may be poisoned, as de-
scribed hereafter, and mounted on the herbarium
sheets at once. If the Polyporus is very thin, it
may be mounted in company with the slice, but more
than one specimen is desirable, as it is indispensable
to have both surfaces handy for examination. If
the specimens are very large, they are best kept in.

Agaric placed to
catch spores.

FUNGI.

173

wooden boxes, and labelled according to the genera
and sub-genera they contain ; or they may be kept
in drawers, the drawers being divided by partitions
if large, and labelled outside. If boxes are used,.

Fig. 42.

Cabinet for Fungi.

they should ail be the same depth ; the height and
width may be doubled or halved according to the
nature of the plants : the plan will be better under-
stood by reference to the diagram, Fig. 42. If this

174 FUNGI.

plan is adopted, there will be no waste space, and
the boxes will stand evenly upon a sideboard or
against a wall.

Before the specimens are transferred to the her-
barium they may or not be poisoned, according to
the wish or convenience of the collector. Some of
my plants which have never been poisoned remain
perfectly uninjured, whilst others, which have been
treated with a strong solution of corrosive sublimate,
have been devoured by larvae, &c., introduced, I
presume, since the plants were put away. A solu-
tion of corrosive sublimate in pyroligneous naphtha,
carefully washed over the specimens, has been re-
commended ; but the ordinary poison is oil of tur-
pentine, mixed with finely-powdered sublimate, well
shaken before applied. If the specimens are to be
glued down, they should be mounted as shown in
Figs. 38 and 39, so as to display all their characters,
and fixed with poisoned gum tragacanth ; but
some botanists, and myself amongst the number,
prefer to have the specimens free. For this purpose
I have envelopes gummed to the herbarium sheets,
and the specimens (including a small paper con-
taining the spores) are free within the envelopes.
Some mites are very fond of the spores of certain
fungi, whilst they will not touch the spores of
others : therefore, if the specimens are to be kept

FUNGI. 175

perfectly intact, gummed paper must be ' used, or
they may be kept between little slips of mica.
As to the labelling of the herbarium sheets, I shall
not touch upon that, as the plan universally
followed is similar to the one used for flowering
plants, and described in this volume. Some sub-
genera of Agaricus, however (as Tricholoma), are so
numerous in species that it will be found requisite
to have several wrappers for one sub-genus.

Now as to the necessary notes to be made on the
sheets : the points in discriminating fungi differ con-
siderably from those used in naming flowering plants.
It is presumed the spores have been preserved by
the collector. Now, if he has time, the next best
thing is to measure and note them at once, in de-
cimals of an inch and millimetre : a second and
essential thing is a note as to the taste of the
fungus, whether it is mild, acrid, bitter, &c. This
point will be found very useful, as some species are
tasteless, insipid, or extremely acrid, bitter, or poi-
sonous : it is only necessary to taste a small piece ;
but as so little is really known of the qualities of
fungi, unless this is done no advance will be made.
I invariably taste every fungus new to me, and have
notes to this effect of all the species which have
passed through my hands : in some species the effect
is very peculiar, sometimes (as in Agaricus melleus)

176 FUNGI.

it causes a cold sensation at the back of the ears,
and swelling of the throat ; at others (as in Maras-
mius cauUcinalis), the taste proves to be intensely
bitter; some are so fiery (as in Lactarius turpis,
llennius, and acris), that the smallest piece placed
upon the tongue resembles the contact of a red-hot
poker. Often, when 1 have been out botanizing with
young men and amateurs, when a dubious Eussula
or Lactarius has been shown me to name, I have
requested the inquirer to taste it, as, if mild or
pungent, the taste might at times decide the species;
I have generally found, however, that though certain
persons are anxious enough to acquire names, they
will not burn their tongues to secure them. No
fungi that I am acquainted with are really pleasant
raw, unless it is Hydnum gelatinosum, though many
are very good when cooked. A very important thing
to note is the odour in the larger fungi : many are
very pleasant, like meal ; a few are sweet ; some re-
semble stinking fish (as Agarieus cucumis) ; one, mice
(as A. incanus) ; another, camphor, whilst Maras-
mius foetidus and impudicus are like putrid carrion ;
others are like burnt flannel, garlic, rotten beans,
and almost every imaginable disagreeable thing.
The habitat is of great importance : if the plant
grows upon trees, the tree should be named ; or if
parasitic upon any other material, the matrix should

FUNGI. 177

be named with the place. The viscidity, dryness,
or bibulosity must be given, and in the Agaricini,
any notes that may suggest themselves as to the
presence or absence of a veil, volva, or trama, and
whether the gills have a habit of separating from the
stem, as at J (Fig. 39), must be carefully noted.

The study of the larger fungi has been to me one
of the greatest pleasures of my life : when all things
else have failed, this has never failed ; it has taken
me into the pleasantest of places and amongst the
best of people. Had it not been for fungi, I should
have been dead years ago ; often tired, jaded, and
harassed with business matters, a stroll in the rich
autumn woods has given me a renewed lease of life.
In these favourite haunts I never tire or flag ; rain,
fog, and mud, never detract from the pleasures of
the woods to me — I am only depressed in the hot,
dry weather of midsummer. In the autumn I con-
stantly visit the forests, with all my collecting para-
phernalia ; I sometimes take a saw to cut off the
big, woody, fungus excrescences of trees. I was
once fortunate enough to find a ladder in a wood,
which proved invaluable for ascending the beeches
in search of Agaricus mucidus, &c. I, however, find
fungi everywhere : I only go round the corner, and
there they are. I often visit a neighbouring builder's
yard, and descend the sawpits, to the amazement of

N

178 FUNGI.

the operatives: some of the rarest species of our
Flora, and many new ones, I have found within a
few minutes' walk of my own house. I once found
a rare Lentinus on a log as it was being carted down
King William Street, and a year or so ago an unde-
scribed Peziza flourished inside my cistern.

Collecting fungi is not without its humours as
well as its pleasures, as the following will show. I
once saw a portly, well-dressed gentleman walking
along the high road, with his vasculum over his
shoulders, and carrying home (one in each hand) a
pair of cast-off, rotten boots, discarded by some va-
grant ; the rotting leather having produced a crop of
rare microscopic fungi. At times abominable cast-
off foetid gipsy rags will be lovingly taken from out
a ditch, and choice pieces cut out and consigned to
the vasculum of the cryptogamic botanist ; at other
times some rare species will be seen " up a tree,"
and it has several times happened in my presence
that one enthusiastic botanist has got on to the
shoulders of another to secure a prize, or even waded
into a pond to get at some prostrate fungus-bearing
log. The humours of truffle hunting are manifold.
I have seen a gentleman trespass, on hands and
knees, through a holly hedge, on to a gentleman's
lawn, and there dig up the turf in some promising
spot, risking an attack from the house-dog, or a few

FUNGI. 179

shots from the proprietor ; the said trespasser mean-
while armed with a rake, gouge, and dangerous-
looking open knife. Country labourers are often
sorely puzzled by the acts of cryptogamic botanists ;
they stand agape in utter amazement to witness
poisonous " frog-stools " bagged by the score. Oft-
times one gets warned that the plants are " deadly
pisin " ; but collectors are usually looked upon as
harmless lunatics, a climax in this direction gene-
rally being reached if a gentleman in search of
Ascoboli and the dung-borne Pezizse, sits down, and
after making a promising collection of horse or
cow-dung, carefully wraps these treasures in tissue
paper, and puts them in his " sandwich-box."

One word of warning to the beginner — never, on
any account, amass and put away a lot of imperfect
materials with insufficient notes, for in the end they
will prove worse than useless. To name fungi with
certainty the fullest notes and most complete mate-
rials are indispensable : without these nothing what-
ever can be done. It is far better to laboriously
make out twenty species, and know them in all their
aspects for certain, than to amass imperfect materials
of two thousand without any sound botanical know-
ledge. If the former course is pursued, the study of
fungi will prove a never-failing source of pleasure to
the mind and of health to the body.

N 2

180 FUNGI.

In conclusion, 1 cannot do better than quote a few
words written by the illustrious Fries (now more than
eighty years of age) in the preface to a recent work
of his on Fungi. He says : " Now in the evening of
my life, I rejoice to call to mind the abundant
pleasures which my study of the more perfect fungi,
sustained for more than half a century, has through-
out this long time afforded me Therefore, to

botanists, who can wander at will the country side, I
commend the study of these plants as a peren-
nial fountain of delight and admiration for that
Supreme Wisdom which reigns over universal
nature."

LICHENS. 181

XIII.

LICHENS.
BY THE REV. JAS. CROMBIE, F.L.S., ETC.

MUCH as it is to be regretted, it cannot be ques-
tioned that of those who have devoted themselves to
the study of botany, Hellenists have always been
" few and far between." While flowering plants
have had their hosts of enthusiastic students, and
while other classes of cryptogamics have had due
attention paid to them, the study of lichens has,
up even to the present time, been but too much
neglected. To many indeed the term conveys only
some faint and confused idea, and though they know
that there are plants so called, they are at the same
time utterly ignorant of their nature. With flower-
ing plants, ferns, mosses, seaweeds, and even fungi,
they have at least some acquaintance, more or less
accurate; but lichens they generally pass by with
indifference, regarding them merely as "time-stains"
on the trees, the walls, and the rocks where they
grow. Nay, we have even met with some professed,
and otherwise well-informed botanists, who, while
recognizing certain of the larger and more con-

182 LICHENS.

spicuous species as lichens, yet fancied that many of
the smaller and more obscure species were merely
inorganic discolorations. It is certainly very difficult
to account for such a state of matters at the present
day, when so much attention is being paid to almost
every other class of plants. Vainly have I sought
either in the nature of the case itself or in my
conversations with botanists, for any intelligible
solution of such apathy and neglect : though many
good and sufficient reasons have presented them-
selves to my mind why they should be regarded in
a very different light. It cannot with any show of
propriety be objected that lichens are an uninter-
esting class of plants, and consequently undeserving
of serious study. So far from this, they are in va-
rious respects as interesting not only as any other
class of cryptogamics, but also as many other plants,
which occupy a higher and more conspicuous place
in the scale of vegetation. Being as it were the
pioneers of all other plant life, for which they serve
to prepare the soil on the coral islet 'and the barren
rock, — constituting the most generally diffused class
of terrestrial plants on the surface of the globe, from
arctic lands to tropical climes, — presenting essential
simplicity of structure, being composed entirely of
an aggregation of cells, though at the same time this
is amply compensated for by endless variety of form,.

LICHENS. 183

— adorning as they do, with their variously 'coloured
thalli and apothecia, the most romantic and the most
dreary situations, — affording in some cases valuable
material for the dyer and the perfumer, nay, even
for medicinal purposes, — supplying, as some of them
do, more or less, nutritious food for man and beast,
under circumstances and in regions where no other
can be had, — it is very evident that the prevailing
neglect of them cannot arise from their being in any
way uninteresting, and destitute either of beauty or
utility. Nor does this, as might be inferred, result
from any peculiar difficulty attending their study.
There indeed seems to be a notion prevalent, not
only amongst the students of phsenogamic, but also
amongst those of cryptogamic plants, that there are,
somehow or other, almost insuperable difficulties
connected with the pursuit of Lichenology. Now, it
is quite true that the correct study of these plants is
by no means an easy one, and that an accurate
knowledge of them is not to be obtained in a day or
an hour; but the same may, with equal truth, be
said of any other branch of Phytology, which re-
quires minute research and microscopical examina-
tion. Here, as elsewhere, there is no royal road to
learning, and the difficulties which lie in the way
must be boldly faced. If the student can only
muster up sufficient courage to cross the threshold

184 LICHENS.

and prosecute his investigations with zeal and steady
perseverance, he will find in this, as in other cases,
that the difficulties which looked so formidable at a
distance, will, one by one, be successfully surmounted.
But to whatever cause the paucity of lichenists,
both in our own and other countries, is to be
attributed, it certainly does not originate in any
difficulty connected with their collection and preser-
vation. In fact, there is no other class of plants,
where these, and more especially the latter, can be
so easily effected, at a little expenditure of time and
trouble. A few simple directions are, therefore, all
that are necessary to be given on these points. As
to the collecting of lichens, it has already been
intimated that they are almost universally distri-
buted, though of course in this respect subject to
the same laws as the higher orders of vegetation.
In our own country we have now a list of about
eight hundred species, constituting by far the
greater proportion of the Lichen Flora of Europe. In
most parts of Great Britain and Ireland, a very fair
number of these may readily be gathered, capable,
as they are, of existing in almost every situation
where they can derive requisite nourishment from
the atmosphere. On the rocks and boulders of the
seashore and the mountain-side, on the trunks and
branches of trees in. ™0ods and forests, on peaty

LICHENS. 185

soil of bare moorlands, and on stone fences in up-
land tracts, nay, even on old pales and walls in
suburban districts, a goodly harvest may generally
be reaped. Few localities indeed there are, within
the area of these islands (London and its environs,
where the atmosphere is so impregnated with
smoke, being the chief exception), in which the
lichenist will find his occupation gone. True, it is
only in some more favoured tracts, chiefly maritime
and montane, that he can expect to meet with many
of our rarer species; but even in most lowland
districts, especially such as are well wooded, he
may, with profit, pursue his researches, and collect
various of the more common species. These will
just be as useful in making him acquainted with the
structure and physiology of lichens as though he
had gathered the rarest that grow on Ben Lawers
or by Killarney's lake. The apparatus requisite for
collecting is neither complicated nor expensive.

A tin japanned vasculum, or what is perhaps
better still, a black leather haversack, of larger or
smaller dimensions as the case may be, suspended
over the shoulder by a strap, is of course indispen-
sable for holding the specimens gathered. The
latter of these we have found to be more generally
convenient, as we can take it with us also for a short
ramble, without its attracting so much attention

186

LICHENS.

from curious rustics, as the less-known and more
singular-looking vasculum. Two sets of instruments
are also necessary for removing the plant from the
substratum on which it grows, as well as for break-
ing off in many cases a thin portion of the latter
along therewith. These are a geologist's hammer
and chisel for such as grow on rocks, boulders,
and stones ; a gardener's pruning-knife for such as
grow on trees, pales, and the ground ; as also an
ordinary table-knife for detaching, by insertion
under them, such foliaceous species as can thus be
separated from the substratum. To these must be
added several sheets of soft and moderately thick
paper, cut into different sizes (some newspapers suit
remarkably well), in which to wrap up the indi-
vidual specimens and prevent them rubbing against
each other ; a few card-boxes also, of various sizes,
in which for greater safety to place any of the more
brittle species, or fragments of the rarer ones, by
themselves ; and a pocketjens of good magnifying
power, by which we may be able to detect on the
spot those minuter species which the naked eye can
with difficulty distinguish. With these the lichenist
is fully equipped for an excursion, whether " near at
hand or far away," and, with waterproof and
umbrella, is ready to take the field even in
threatening weather. A good deal of discrimina-

LICHENS. 187

tion must be used in the selection of specimens for
removal, which, in all cases where such can be
obtained, ought to be fertile, with both apothecia
and spermagones fully developed. Hence, such as
are too old or too young, may be passed by, as
neither the spores nor spermatia, by which alone,
in many instances, they can be determined, will be
found in a normal condition, any more than the
thallus itself. The specimens gathered ought in
every case to be of sufficient size to show distinctly
the character of the thallus and of the fructifica-
tion. Where, however, the thallus, as it frequently
does, spreads very extensively over the substratum,
it will be sufficient to break off such a portion from
the circumference towards the centre, as will give-
an adequate idea of the more important character-
istics of the plant. This is a point of considerable
consequence ; for should a portion be taken off from
the circumference alone, or from the centre alone,
it will often be entirely unsuitable for showing the
real nature of the plant, and be quite useless for
purposes of description. A little experience, how-
ever, will serve to prevent the commission of a
mistake, into which, judging from the number of
imperfect specimens which are sent me to be
named, beginners are very apt to fall. Practice
will also in time enable the tyro to use the hammer

188 LICHENS.

and chisel in such a way as to obtain neat specimen?
of saxicole species — a matter of importance with
respect to their subsequent mounting. As to the
best season for collecting, 1 need scarcely remind
the reader that lichens are perennial plants, re-
markable for their longevity, and that during the
whole year round they may be found in fruit. The
lichenist has not to wait for any particular month
or months, as other botanists have to do, before he
can collect the objects of his search in a fully-
developed condition. Spring, summer, autumn, and
even- winter, except when the snow conceals all
vegetation beneath its white mantle, are all alike to
him, and in each he will find every species of lichen
in perfection. At the same time, he will be most
successful after a shower of rain or a slight frost
has fallen, inasmuch as, becoming swollen with the
moisture then imbibed, many of the minuter species
which might otherwise be overlooked, are more
readily perceived, and the foliaceous species more
easily removed from the substratum to which they
are more or less closely affixed.

Nothing more need be said on the collecting of
lichens, as a short experience will be more useful
than further details. We proceed, therefore, to give
a few hints on their subsequent preservation. This
is a very easy process, presenting no difficulty what-

LICHENS. 189

ever, and occupying but little time. We shall
suppose that the collector has returned from a
successful expedition, with his vasculum or haver-
sack well filled with specimens from all sorts of
habitats. Opening the papers in which they have
been wrapped up, he will take them out one by one,
and place them separately upon a table, over which a
newspaper has previously been spread. If gathered
in wet weather, they ought not to be left long in the
papers, as in this case they are very apt to become
covered with mould. After allowing them to remain
in this position till they are thoroughly dry, he may
at once proceed with hammer and chisel, or with
knife and scissors, to reduce to a suitable size such
of them as he could not conveniently thus manipulate
in the field. When this is done, they may then be
affixed with gum, of a rather thick consistency, to
slips of white paper, with the locality and date of
their collection written beneath. There will be no
difficulty felt in thus affixing saxicole, corticole, and
lignicole species, though where the nature of the
stone or wood is more absorbent, several applica-
tions of the gum may be necessary before they
properly adhere. With terricole species, however,
a somewhat more lengthened process is necessary,
owing to the brittle nature of the substratum, in
consequence of which, if not properly preserved,

190 LICHENS.

they often crumble into dust in the herbarium. To
prevent this, M. Norman, of Tromsoe, Norway, has
recently prescribed a solution of isinglass in spirits
-of wine, which, when liquefied in a vessel plunged
in water of the temperature of 25°-30° C., is greedily
imbibed by the earth, and becomes inspissated into
a solid gelatine at a temperature below 15°. This
solution may be applied until the earth becomes
thoroughly saturated, and after it is perfectly dry,
the specimens will possess sufficient hardness and
tenacity, and may then be mounted like the others.
So far, however, as my own experience goes, I have
found a weak solution of gum-arabic, frequently
repeated, and applied to the under surface and edges
of the specimens, to be quite as efficacious; and if
after becoming thoroughly dry, they be first affixed
by a thicker solution to slips of thin tissue-paper,
they will be equally ready for being mounted as
above. Either of these two methods may also with
advantage be applied to such species as grow upon
decayed mosses. Slight pressure may be applied to
the thallus of fruticulose, filamentose, and foliaceous
species, in order that they may lie better in the
herbarium ; but this should be done only to a very
limited degree, so as not to obliterate the normal
appearance of the branches or lobes. As the cha-
racter of the under surface of the thallus is fre-

LICHENS. . 191

•quently of great importance, at least in foliaceous and
fruticulose plants, a portion of this, not necessarily
detached, should be turned over, for facility of in-
spection, and pressed down on the paper, before the
specimens have become quite dry and rigid. In
order to destroy any insects that may be upon the
plants when gathered, or by which they may after-
wards be infested, lichenists at one time were in the
habit of poisoning them with corrosive sublimate.
Frequent exposure, however, to the air in dry
weather, and the presence of a little camphor, will
be quite sufficient to prevent any mischief from this
source.

But having thus arranged, though the arrangement
is but temporary, the specimens gathered, on slips
-of white paper, the next and most important point
is their due examination and determination. This,
in the present advanced state of Lichenology, is un-
questionably, in many cases, a task of considerable
difficulty, and in the short space at our disposal it
would be quite impossible to give anything like an
adequate explanation of the mode in which this is
to be effected. Suffice it at present to say that
sections must be made of the thallus to ascertain
the character of its different layers, as also sections
of the apothecia and spermagones to ascertain the
nature of the spores and spermatia. For both pur-

192

LICHENS

poses a good microscope, with ^-inch object-glass, is
absolutely indispensable to the student. The exami-
nation of the spores, upon which, in so many cases,
the determination of the species chiefly depends,
should present little or no difficulty, at least to the
fungologist. It may be readily effected by moisten-
ing the apothecium with water, and then, with a dis-
secting-knife, making a thin vertical section through
its centre. Putting this on a glass slide, or in a
compressorium, in a drop of hydrate of potash, and

Section of Physcia parietma.

a. Paraphyses. 6. Asci with spores, c. Hypothecmm. d. Section of
apothecium. e. Spore.

then placing it under the microscope, a view will be
obtained of the asci, spores, paraphyses, hypothe-
cium, &c., each of which may afterwards be insulated

LICHENS.

193

and examined more minutely in detail. Take, for
example, the well-known beautiful yellow lichen
(Pliyscia parietina), so common everywhere on walls,
rocks, and trees, and treat a very thin section of the
mature apothecium as before mentioned. Under the
microscope it will appear as represented in Fig. 43.
In the same way the spermagones may be exa-
mined, when the nature of the sterigmata and
spermatia will be ap-
parent. By cutting
across the thallus of
the above species, we
can perceive even by
the naked eye that it
consists of three dif-
ferent layers, which

, . • 11 Section of Physcia parietina.

when microscopically a.Cortical8tratum. 6<Gonidic stratum.
examined present the c- Medullary stratum,

appearance shown in the above figure.

But in addition to this microscopical examination,
it is also requisite to observe tne different chemical
reactions produced on the asci or the hymeneal
gelatine with iodine (I), which will tinge these
either bluish or reddish wine-coloured, or else leave
them uncoloured. Similarly the thallus, including
both the cortical layer and the medulla, may be
tested with hydrate of potash (K), and hypochlorite

194: LICHENS.

of lime (C), the latter being applied either by itself
or added to K when wet. In some cases no reaction
will be produced by these either upon the cortical
stratum or the medulla; in others they will be
tinged yellowish or reddish. The formulae for the
preparation of these reagents are : for iodine, iodine,
gr. j ; iodide of potash, gr. iij, distilled water, ^ oz. ;
for hydrate of potash, equal weights of caustic potash
and water ; for hydrochlorite of lime, chloride of
lime and water of any strength. After correctly
ascertaining the specific name of the specimens
collected, this is to be written on the slips of paper
to which they are affixed, above the locality and
date, and the best of them, including all varieties
and forms, selected for subsequent mounting in the
herbarium. This may be effected either in the same
way as the mounting of phanerogamic plants, or by
affixing the specimens to pieces of millboard covered
with white paper, and arranging them according to
the order of the genera and species in the system of
classification which may be adopted. For facility
of reference the latter is undoubtedly the preferable
method ; and if the cards are disposed in a cabinet
with shallow drawers, they will not, so far at least
as our British species are concerned, be found to
occupy too much space.

SEAWEEDS. 195

SEAWEEDS.
BY W. H. GRATTANHT.

IN some articles published in ' Science-Gossip ' a
few years ago, I gave some directions for collecting
and preserving Marine Algae, or seaweeds, and
although, I think, it will be difficult to simplify
those directions, or even to add much tnat would be
really serviceable to young beginners in this de-
lightful pursuit, it is my intention, in going over the
ground once more, to be as explicit as I possibly can ;
and here, on the threshold of the subject, I have a few
words to say to one or two occasional contributors to
that journal, who, in calling attention to the beauty
of marine vegetation, and urging young persons to
collect and preserve Algae, have advised them to
ignore books on the subject, and go to the shore, use
their own eyes, and collect for themselves, &c. I
am sorry very greatly to differ from such advice.
Collecting in this way may be amusing enough to
those who care not for science, but when it leads to
parcels of seaweeds, picked up at random, being sent
to botanists with a request that the names of such

196 SEAWEEDS.

plants should be sent to the writer, it is the reverse
of pleasure to the scientific botanist, for it gives him
infinite trouble, and enables him to convey but very
imperfect information to his applicant. The editor
of that journal has often been thus appealed to, and
packages of decayed rubbish have frequently been
sent to me for examination, containing species or
rather fragments of plants, which, for the most part,
were utterly worthless and defied identification.

Almost all collectors commence by mounting plants
which a little experience proves to be really what
the old poet termed " alga projecta vilior " ; but
as seaweed-gathering, like everything else, requires
practice, beginners must not be disappointed because
they do not find rarities or fine specimens whenever
and wherever they may seek for them.

When I think of the difficulties I experienced at
the outset of my study of marine botany, especially in
the collecting and drying of seaweeds, I feel strongly
inclined to urge all beginners to obtain some in-
formation concerning Marine Algae before they go
to the shore to collect for themselves. A very few
hours of study with an experienced algologist, or
even a perusal of some illustrated work on British
algse, will save much trouble and materially assist
the unpractised eye in selecting specimens for the
herbarium. I may here mention as highly useful
to incipient algologists Dr. Landsborough's ' British

SEAWEEDS. 197

Seaweeds/ and Professor Harvey's ' Manual,' either
of which may be obtained for a few shillings ; but if
my readers are resident in London, I advise them
to pay a few visits to the Library of the British
Museum, and there inspect Dr. Harvey's ' Phycol ogia
Britannica.' In this magnificent work they will find
coloured figures of nearly every British seaweed,
with drawings from magnified portions, and various
structural details of the highest value to students ;
and I once more impress on all collectors the im-
portance of some degree of book-learning ere they
sally forth, bag or vasculum in hand, to cull the
lovely "flowers of the ocean," or gather what best may
please them from the rejectamenta on the shore.

If the collector wishes to learn, not merely the
names of plants, but to distinguish species, he will do
well to provide himself with a copy of Harvey's
little volume the ' Synopsis of British Seaweeds/ and
a Stanhope or Coddington lens, by means of which
he can examine portions of delicate plants as he
finds them, and compare them with the descriptions
given in the * Synopsis ' ; in this way, if he have any
success during his excursions, he will quickly become
familiar with most of the plants which are cast ashore
or grow within tide-marks.

Time will not admit of, neither is space at pre-
sent available for, a single line beyond what may
be practically serviceable to my youthful readers ;

198 SEAWEEDS.

therefore I will hasten to describe the course of*
action in seaweed-collecting as I have practised it
for many years. At once, then, to the shore, but not
to the sandy shore, for only useless decayed rubbish,
or here and there some straggling plants of Zostera
marina, or grass-wrack, will be met with there. The
collector must away to the rocks, and search carefully
every pool he meets with, from a little distance
below high-water mark, and so on down to the
water's edge, always remembering that it is better
to collect while the tide is receding than as it is
coming in.

Presuming that few persons will think of collect-
ing seaweeds much earlier than the month of May,
let me observe that most of the accessible species of
olive and green plants which grow on rocky shores
and in tide-pools, will be found from May to June
in pretty fair condition, but very few red plants,
except those which grow on the shady sides of rock-
pools, or under the shelter of the larger olive weeds,
will be met with until a considerable space is laid
bare by the receding water at the low spring tides,
about a day or two before and after the full moon.

As nearly all the rare red weeds grow in deep
water, they are seldom taken in any degree of per-
fection unless they are dredged ; but in the summer
months, say from June to the end of August, many
fine plants are occasionally thrown up from deep

SEAWEEDS. 199

water, and others are found growing on the stems
of the great oar-weeds, portions of which are cast
ashore, beautifully fringed with one or more species
of Delesseria and other rare Khodosperms — in fact,
during the rising tide, diligent collectors may secure
many a lovely deep-water plant as it comes floating
in, but which, if allowed to remain long exposed to
the action of sunlight, will fade in colour and de-
compose before it can be mounted. This is espe-
cially the case with all the soft gelatinous red plants,
such as the Callithamnia, and all the Gloiocladise, as
well as a few of the softer olive weeds ; and here I
may observe that there is one genus of beautiful
olive plants, the Sporoclmacese, which must on no
account be put into the vasculum with any of the
delicate red plants, for they not only very rapidly
decompose, but injure almost all others with which
they are placed in contact. The species are not
numerous, and they may be easily recognized, after
having been previously studied from the coloured
figures either in Harvey's ' Phycologia,' or in Brad-
bury and Evans's 'Nature-printed Seaweeds.' It is
also a curious fact respecting this genus, that while
they are all of a beautiful olive tint in the growing
state, they invariably change to a fine verdigris-green
in drying ; and indeed this is very generally the case
with the filamentous olive weeds, the Fuci, or common
rock-weeds, as constantly turning quite black after

200 SEAWEEDS.

mounting: whence the term, that of " Melanosperm,"
which is given to the subdivision to which all the
olive weeds belong.

As there are so few seaweeds which have gene-
rally known common names, I shall make no apology
for using the names by which they are known to
science, presuming that all intending collectors will,
as I have already suggested, gain some knowledge of
Terminology ere they go out " seaweeding."

Beginners should be cautioned against the very
natural error of bringing home too many plants at a
time ; they must be moderate in their gatherings, or
be content to risk the loss of some choice specimens,
which will decompose unless they are attended to
before night. The first thing to be done upon
arriving at home, is to empty the collecting-bag into
a white basin of sea-water, and to select the best
and cleanest plants as soon as possible, giving each a
good swill before placing it in another vessel of clean
water, and getting rid of rejected plants at once, so
that the basin first used will be available for re-
washing the weeds before they are severally placed
in the mounting dish. When a day is fixed on for
seaweeding, the collector should order a large bucket
of clean sea- water, which, after being left to settle,
should be strained through a towel, so as to be as
free as possible from sand and dirt. Two or three
large pie-dishes will be necessary, the deeper the

SEAWEEDS. 201

better, and white, if such can be obtained. Place <
these on a separate table with towels under them,
and reserve a table specially for the mounting dish
and the parcels of papers, calicoes, and blotting-
papers. The large white bath used in photography
is very well adapted for mounting seaweeds ; the lip
at one corner is convenient for pouring off soiled
water, and its form — that of an oblong — is most
suitable for receiving the papers on which the
plants are to be mounted. Beside this vessel should
be placed the following implements — a porcupine
quill, two camel-hair pencils (one small, the other
large and flat), a pair of strong brass forceps, a pen-
knife, a pair of scissors, a small sponge, an ivory
paper-knife, and two thin plates of perforated zinc
somewhat less in length and breadth than the inside
of the mounting dish.

Smooth drawing paper, or fine white cartridge
paper, is generally employed for mounting. The
operator should be provided with three different
sizes of paper, and these should have each a piece
of very fine calico and four pieces of blotting-paper
to correspond. The process of mounting one of the
filamentous or branching species is as follows : — The
specimen being cleaned and placed in the mounting
dish, a piece of paper of suitable size is laid on one
of the perforated zinc plates, and both are then
slipped quickly under the floating weed. The root

202 SEAWEEDS.

or base of the specimen is then pressed down on the
paper with a finger of the left hand, while the right
hand is employing the forceps or porcupine quill in
arranging the plant in as natural a position as.
possible, ere the zinc plate is gently and gradually
raised at the top or bottom, as may be necessary, ta
ensure a perfect display of every portion of the
plant ; but if, upon drawing it out of the water, it
should present an unsightly appearance from too
thick an overlapping of the branches, the whole must
be reimmersed, and a little pruning of superfluous-
portions may be employed with advantage to the
specimen and satisfaction to the operator. Care
should be taken that the water be drained off the
paper as completely as possible before the calico is
laid over the plant, and this is accomplished by
raising the paper containing the plant as it still lies-
on the zinc plate, and transferring it to a thin board
placed in an inclined position against one of the
basins, and with the large camel-hair pencil paint
off the water as it runs away from the specimen, and
absorb what remains, when the paper is laid flatj.
with the sponge. Delicate species may be left to
drain for a few minutes, while the operator is arrang-
ing other specimens. When the water is sufficiently
drained off, the paper is then laid on the blotter, and
the piece of calico is placed upon the plant — a sheet
of blotter being laid upon the calico.

SEAWEEDS. 203-

Care should be observed in subjecting plants to
pressure, which, in the first instance, should be suffi-
cient only to help the absorption of water. The first
set of blotting-papers should be changed in half an
hour after the whole batch of specimens have been
placed in the press, and these must be thoroughly
dried before they are used again. After the second
or third change of blotters, the plants should remain
under strong pressure for two or three days ; but the
pieces of calico must not be removed until it is pretty
certain that the papers and plants are quite dry.

With the exception of the Fuel or common rock-
weeds, I never place seaweeds in fresh water : with
these, especially Fucus serratus, F. nodosus, F. vesi-
culosus, and F. canalieulatus, a few hours' immersion
in fresh water is an advantage, as it soaks the salt
out of their fronds and renders them more pliable.
As all the Fuci turn black in drying, and few of them
adhere well to paper, I arrange my specimens in.
single layers between the folds of a clean dry towel,,
and keep them under pressure until they are quite
dry ; they may then be put away loosely, or gummed
on sheets of paper.

The foregoing directions for mounting filamentous
seaweeds are applicable to all the branching species
of Olive, Eed, and Green plants ; but in each of the
three subdivisions there are a few species which are
so gelatinous — in fact, so soft and spongy, that thev

"204 SEAWEEDS.

require the utmost care during pressure, otherwise
they adhere to the calico and break off in frag-
ments as it is drawn away. Such plants must be
left to dry in a horizontal position for an hour or so
before the calico and blotters are placed over them,
and pressure must be very slight until they have
adhered closely to the paper. Among the Chloro-
sperms, or green plants, there are the various species
of Codium, young plants of which only are manage-
able or indeed desirable. In the Melanosperms,
some species of the genus Mesogloia will require care
and patience in mounting, as well as the long string-
like plant, known as Chorda filum ; and again, the
spreading tuberous mass called Leathsia tuberiformis,
portions of which should be cut from the rock, the
sand scraped and washed out, then laid on the wet
paperx and allowed to shrink for some hours ere
calico blotters and pressure be applied. These
difficulties are much more numerous among the
Khodosperms, or red seaweeds, experience only
teaching the best method of treatment. I will,
however, mention the names of some very trouble-
some plants, the fronds of which, if subjected to pres-
sure too soon, burst and discharge their carmine con-
tents ; not only presenting an unsightly appearance,
but destroying the specimen. These are Griffithsia
coralUna, Dudresnaia eoccinea, Naccaria Wiggliii,
all tiie Cliylodadia, and the rare Gloiosiphonia, as well

SEAWEEDS. 205

as the slimy worm-like plant known" as Nemalion
multifidum.

In addition to these troubles among the red plants,
there is an opposite difficulty connected with several
Khodosperins which must be pointed out ; and that
is owing to an absence or scarcity of gelatine in
their substance, which is in some of a stout, leathery,
or horny nature, and in others is due to a coating of
carbonate of lime, which completely envelops the
vegetable structure. Among the former may be
mentioned the several species of Phyllophora, and
several among the genera Gigartina, Chondrus, and
Sphserococcus ; and in the latter, all the calcareous
Algre, especially the well-known Corallina officinalis
and Jdnia rubens. All these, and several others of a
membraneous nature, among the olive as well as the
red weeds, must be first mounted in the ordinary
manner, and when they are tolerably dry and begin
to shrink away from the paper, fill the mounting-
dish with stale skimmed milk; refloat the plants on
their papers in the milk, and indeed go through the
same process as before with the sea-water, but be
careful to absorb all the milk from off the surface of
the plants and the back of the papers, and then,
after the usual time for drying and pressing, the
most obstinate seaweed will be found adhering per-
fectly to the paper, and will remain so permanently.

One more difficulty must be referred to for the

206 SEAWEEDS.

benefit of young beginners, who, in mounting some
of the Laminaria and that peculiar olive weed called
Himantlialia lorea, may wish to preserve the thick-
•branching roots and stems. First wash the roots as
clean as possible, and then, with a sharp penknife,
make a clean cutting horizontally of the whole root
and some little distance up the thick round stem ;
then, after having removed the cut portions, place
the inner surface of the root and stem on the paper,
and the gelatinous matter which oozes from the
plant will cause the roots to adhere firmly to the
paper, and in drying, the usual olive tint of the
various species of Laminaria will be finely preserved.
Some botanists employ a mixture made of isinglass,
dissolved in alcohol, to fix some of the horny or
robust species on paper ; but if gum be made use of,
it is better to employ gum tragacanth than gum-
arabic, because, in drying, the former has none of
that objectionable glare which is peculiar to gum
arable.

As regards the best method of pressing seaweeds,
I think I can hardly do better than refer my readers
to the figure of a Seaweed Press (Fig. 45), which
I invented for myself many years ago, in which I
have pressed many thousands of beautiful seaweeds.
Almost any degree of pressure can be obtained in it :
first, by the thumb-screws on the iron rods at each
corner, and, finally, by means of the clamp which is

SEAWEEDS.

207

strapped on the top of the press. Any intelligent
cabinet-maker or ironmonger could provide such
a press from an inspection of the figure ; the cost,
of course, varying with the dimensions and the
number of boards.

Fig. 45.

Seaweed Press.

With respect to localities favourable to seaweed-
gathering, I may specially mention the south coast
of Devon ; from Exmouth, where Bryopsis and
Padina pavonia grow in perfection, to Torquay and
the coves of Torbay, and down the coast to Plymouth,

208 SEAWEEDS.

Cawsand Bay, and finally Whitsand Bay, the "happy
hunting-grounds" of the enthusiastic algologist. On
the north-east coast, Filey and Whitby must be
mentioned, as well as the shores upwards from Tyne-
mouth to Whitley. Peterhead is also a good locality,,
the rare Ectocarpus Mertensii, Odonthalia dentata,
and CallUliamnion floccosum being found there in
abundance. Other favourable stations in Scotland,
well known to me, are Lamlash Bay and Whiting
Bay ; nor must the Isle of Wight be forgotten, for
in the rock-pools, at Shanklin especially, the most
magnificent form of Padina pavonia may be found
growing during the summer months in the utmost
profusion.

In conclusion, I beg leave to inform my readers
that I have recently published a volume on British
Marine Algae, in which every species that is likely
to be met with by ordinary collectors is described,
and every British seaweed that is capable of illustra-
tion in a work intended for popular information, is
figured from plants in my own possession, and, in
addition, diagrams and figures from drawings of
magnified portions, illustrative of structure and
fructification, appear throughout the pages of my
work.

( -2U-J )

INDEX.

Adventnres of fungus hunt-
ers

Advice to fungus collectors

Affixing lichens

Agaric placed to catch
spores

Agaricus cucumis

melleus

mucidus

Agrostis stolon ifera ..

American moth-trap ..

Ammonia for insects

Anatomy of molluscs

of vertebrates

Anchomenus sexpunctatus

Ants' nests for beetles

Apothecia

Apparatus for taking in-
sects

Arm of man

Arrangement of eggs

of fossils 11

of plants

of shells

Arranging grasses . .

lichens

Artificial beetle-traps

Assiminea Grayann

Attracting insects ..

Beating for beetles ..

89

178

for larv&

47

179

Beech '.. ..

121

189

Beetles

67

by post

86

172

«*"Knw* 4-s\ 4**« 1 ±V.

& 1 2

176

, \\jiijie to nnci tnein
86-94

175

Beritall's drying-paper

141

177

Best season for lichens

188

140

trees for insects

51

57

Birds' eggs

27

59

nests . .

42

22

Bivalves

Kit

18

Bleaching bones

23

71

Blooms for attracting in-

91

sects

53

191

Blowing eggs

30

Blowpipe for eggs

31

57

Bog mosses

14f>

21

Ilombycea

45

39

Bones

16

, 13

of dog

17

135

Bone-preservers' shops

17

116

Books on seaweeds 196-7,

208

142

Boring holes in eggs

33

191

Bottle for beetles . .

76

87

Boulders

5

108 i

Box for carrying insects . .

55

57 !

Braces for insects

6)

P

210

INDEX.

Breeding beetles

Bulb-tube

Bulimus aeutus
Butterflies and moths

at rest

Butterworts

Buying eggs .. ..

PAGE |

,68-9 i
, 31
. 107
. 44
. 50
. 123
28

Cabinet for fungi .. .. 173

Cabinets for insects . . . . 66

for plants 136

Cage for virgin lepidoptera 52

Callithamnion floccosum . . 208

Campanula glomerata . . 129

rotundifolia .. .. 130

nniflora 130

Cardboard for mounting

beetles 79

Cataloguing of eggs . . . . 36

Caution in carrying boxes 97

Ceratodon purpureus . . 152

Chemical testing of lichens 194

Chip boxes 48

Chloroform bottle . . . . 58

Chorda filum 204

Chrysalis collecting . . . . 48-9

preserving 49

Classification of mosses . . 154

Cleaning the inside of eggs 33

shells 113

Coal-shale .. 3

Collecting and preserving

insects 44

birds' eggs abroad . . 30

fungi 160

, 146

Collecting plants and ferns 117

seaweeds 195

< Comparative Anatomy of

Vertebrates 18

Construction of egg cabinet

38, 40

Conovulus 107

Converts to geology . . . . 4

Coprinus atramentarius .. 160

domesticus .. .. 161

Coprnphaga, where to find 90

Corallina otficinalis .. .. 205

Cork saddle for insects .. 61

Corrosive sublimate .. .. 133

Cortical stratum of lichens 193

Cotyledons 120

Cure for mould on insects 64

D

Decomposition of fungi .. ]tj4
Description of eggs . . . . 37
Difficulties in seaweed

mounting 206

Dioecious plants .. .. 127
Directions in mounting

beetles 82-3

Discoloured beetles .. .. 84
Discriminating fungi ,. 175
Dissection of beetles . . . . 85
Distribution of lichens .. 182

of mosses 156

Dried yolk 35

Drying fungi 1 66

Drying-paper for grasses . . 1 11
Duck's-head hammer . . 7
Dudresnaia coccinea . . , . 204

INDEX.

E

PACE

Economy of lichens .. .. If 4

Ectocarpus Mertensii . . '208

Egg collector's note-book . . 35

— drills 30

Eggs of moths, &c 45

Embryo of plants .. .. 119

English names of plants .. 134

Entomological pins .. .. 83

Equipment of coleopterist 71

for fungus hunting .. 161

for gathering plants 128

• of geologist . . . . 9

— of hymenopterist . . 95
— - for procuring land and

freshwater shells . . . . 102

for seaweed collecting 200

Examination of lichen spores 192
of mosses 149

F

Fading of eggs 35

Favourable spots for shells 108

Fertilization of plants .. 126
Flowers frequented by hy-

menoptera 96

— of plants 126

Flowering plants and ferns 1 17

Fluid for mounting slugs 115

Fore leg of horse .. .. 21

Fossil hunting 5

plants 4

Fossils in boulders . . . . 6

French chalk for insects . . 65

Fries' 'Fungi' 180

Fruits of plants 128

Fuci 203

Fungi, collecting of .. .. 178
Furze ., .123

•G

FAGR

Gardiner's ' British Mosses' 153

Gathering lichens .. .. 187

Geutiaua collina . . . . 130

Geological cabinets .. .. 11

enjoyment 14

• equipment . . . . 9

examination of strata 10

hammers 7

• maps 10

specimens 1

Geology in fields .. .. 5

Glass-topped boxes .. .. 13

Gloiosiphonia .. %. .. 204

Gonidic stratum of lichens 193

Grasses, when to select . . 128

— , collecting of .. .. 139

, preserving of .. .. 140

Griffithsia corallina . . . . 204

Grossulariacese 134

Gum for mounting beetles 79

Gumming down plants .. 133

H

Habitats of grasses .. .. 144

Habits of mole 19

of snails 109

Half-hatched eggs .. .. 33

Harvey's ' Phycologia ' .. 197

Helix caperata 107

virgata 107

Hepatic* 145

Herbaria 132

Herbarium sheets .. .. 136

Himanthalia lorea .. .. 206

Holcus mollis 140

How to get fungus spores 171

| How to prepare skeletons 23

p 2

212

INDEX.

PA OF. |

Hybernation of butterflies 50

PACK

Lepidodendron 4

Hydrobia ventrosa ..

108

Lepidoptera

44

similis

108

Lichen flora of Europe

185

Hymenoptera

95

Lichens, collecting of

181

Hypothecium of lichens . .

192

Lime (Tilia Europoca)

120

Liver mosses

145

I

Localities for fungi . .

164

Identification of eggs
Insect forceps

29
83

seaweed gathering . . 207
obtaining shells 106-110
London Catalogue . . . . 129

J1

Luck in capturing beetles

70

Lycopods . .

115

Jania rubens

205

J ungermanniace re

154

M

Maceration of specimens . .

24

K

Mclvor's 4 Hepaticse Britan-

1°,2

n iosB ' . ...

is.-;

176

Mantcll's, Dr., Works
Marasmius caulicinalis ..

Killing hymenoptera

97

insects 58-9

fo3tidus ..

170

-"•" oiiclliy •• . . . . ••

impudicus

17G

T,

Materials for beetle pre-

JLj

serving

Sfr

Labelling eggs

36

Medals of creation

3

fossils

11

Medullary stratum of li-

specimens

134

chens

193

Labels

135

Melanogaster ambiguus . .

165

Lactarius turpis

176

Melanospcrms

204

Lfuminaria

206

Membraneous seaweeds . .

205

Land and freshwater shells

102

Method of setting out in-

Landsborough's ' British

sects

61

Seaweeds'

196

Microscopical examination

Lantern for catching in-

of lichens

193

sects

53

Microscopical examination

Lxrvse on fungi

166

of mosses

150

Leathsia tuberiformis

204

Missing links

1£

Leaves of plants

125

Mode of securing hymen-

Lens for examining beetles

85

optera

9G

INDEX.

PAGE

P

Modelling slugs, &c.

.. 114

TAG P.

Monoecious plants

.. 127

Packing eggs

38

Mosses

.. 145

. fungi

163

Mosses in bogs ..

.. 157

lichens

174

in fields

.. 156

Paddle of whale . .

21

on heaths . .

.. 156 <

Padina pavonia

208

157

Pace's Int

rnrlimt.nrv 'Tftvt-

on shady banks

.. 157 !

book' ••{

by streams

.. 157

Paraphyses of lie-hens

192

by trees ..

.. 157

Paper for grasses

140

on walls

.. 156 !

Petrology

6

on waste ground

.. 156

Peristomes of mosses

155

in woods

.. 157

Phallus impudicus

1G5

Moths at rest

.. 50

Phillips's

' Guide to Geo-

Mounting beetles

.. 78

' logy '

3

mosses

.. 152

Physcia parietina

192

plants

.. 131

Pinning insects

60

T

.. 201

Pins for setting hymenop-

ocxv\> erHlo . . • •

Mussel shells

.. 104

tera

08

Mussels, how to prepare

111

Pisidium,

how to prepare

112

Plants for

herbarium

125

N

Platypus hammer

7

Naecaria "Wigghii

.. 204

Poa compressa

140
140

Neglect of lichens ..
Net for beetle catching
for sugaring
for water beetles

.. 182
72-73
.. 55
.. 74

Poisoning fungi
Pollen of plants
Polyporus

AT: I/

174
127
172

igniarius

166

Precaution against grease

65

Preparation of mosses

148

Obtaining caterpillars

.. 46

Preparing

shells for cabinet

110

Odonthalia dentata

.. 208

; Preservation of fungus

Odour of fungi

.. 176

spores

171

Oil-beetles

.. 81

' of lichens .. .. 188-90

Olive-coloured seaweeds

199

of mosses

151

Osbert Salvin ..

.. 39

Preserving animals

23

Osteology

16, 22

cocoons

49'

of the mammalia

.. 18

eggs for cabinet

28

214

INDEX.

i Preserving fresh fungi .. 165

fungi in fluid .. .. 170

insects' eggs .. .. 45

insects from decay .. 64

slugs 110

Pressing seaweeds . . . . 206

Pseudo-bombyces .. .. 45

Public herbaria . 132

Q

'Quarantine for insects .. 64

R

Rare fungi . . .... . . 178

.Hearing beetles from larvae 68

Re-carding beetles . . . . 84

Red seaweeds 198

Removing bodies from

shells 112

grease from insects .. 65

Repairing eggs 34

Rhinoceros bones . . . . 22

Rhizomes ... 123

Rhodosperms 204

S

'Sand pits for beetles
Searching for larvse
Season for collecting shells
Seaweed gathering . .

press

Seaweeds, collecting of ..
Section cut through aga-

ricus

•Seeds of plants

Setting bristle

86
46
109
207
207
195

170

128
61

1 i

moths for cabinets 62, 63

PAGE

Setting out hymenoptera 99
Skeleton of mole .. .. 20
Skeletons of birds .. .. 20
Skull of a crocodile . . . . 19
Sliding stages for egg cabi-
nets 40

Snail shells 104

Solution for killing slugs 114
Specimens showing gills,

&c., of fungi 169

Spermagones 191

Sphinges 45

Sterigmata of lichens . . 193

Study of the larger fungi . . 177
Stupefying insects . . 97-8

Subterranean pupae .. .. 49

Sugaring 54

drum 56

Sweeping for beetles . . 89

Sycamore 122

Table for hymenoptera . . 99
Thullus of lichens .. ..193
Thatch beating .. .. 52
Tools for fungus collecting 162

for lichen collecting 186

Tortula muralis . . 147, 150
Trimming hammer .. .. 7
Triticum repens 140

U

Umbelliferre 134

Umbrella net 47

Use of camphor . . . . 66
of osteological speci-
mens 25

INDEX.

215-

'Vnrit-ties of species ..
Varnishing eggs

tor lichens

PAM Where to find chrysalis

j'2'> fungi ..

$5

185

lichens

• mosses

jr~ seaweeds . .

to "sugar" .. .,

Washing eggs 34 i Woody specimens of fun-

Wbere to find caterpillars 4G ' gus 172

PAC.K

4(J
If.O
1S4
147
I'JS)

54

London: Piinted by W. H. Allen & Co., 13, Waterloo Place, S.W.

14 DAY USE

RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWED '

BIOLOGY LIBRARY

TEL. NO. 642-2532

This book is due on the last date stamped below, or

on the date to which renewed.
Renewed books are subject to immediate recall.

AUG 1 3970

LI

-1AM 8 6

LD 21A-12m-5,'e
(J401slO)476

General Library

University of California

Berkeley

RETURN TO the circulation desk of any

University of California Library

or to the

NORTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY
Bldg. 400, Richmond Field Station
University of California
Richmond, CA 94804-4698

[ALL BOOKS MAY BE RECALLED AFTER 7 DAYS

12-month loans may be renewed by calling

(510)642-6753
1-year loans may be recharged by bringing books

to NRLF
Renewals and recharges may be made 4 days

prior to due date

DUE AS STAMPED BELOW

F£B211995

AUG 1 0 $98

U. C. BERKELEY