An introduction to the study of seaweeds / by George Murray.

  • Murray, George (George Robert Milne), 1858-
Date:
1895
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An introduction to the study of seaweeds / by George Murray. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    47/324 (page 29)
    In drying specimens the material should be floated out, and a mount-paper of suitable size placed under it and slowly lifted out by one corner. By means of a camel-hair brush the branches may be kept apart, since they are apt to become entangled at the critical moment of leaving the water. When this happens at one or two spots merely, a drop of water placed on the part will permit of rearrangement without plunging the whole in again. A number of specimens may be dried simultaneously by using, instead of a basin, a shallow zinc tray with a per- forated or wire-woven plate large enough for several specimens. It requires practice in lifting it out, and though specimens good enough for botanical pur- poses may be so obtained, they are never so beauti- fully arranged as when taken out singly on their mounts. The wet specimens on their mounts should be placed at once between sheets of drying- paper (blotting-paper is too absorbent) with a layer of muslin over each sheet of specimens to prevent their adhering to the upper sheet of drying-paper. As a rule seaweeds need less pressure than flower- ing plants, and the collector will very soon learn to adjust it. Plenty of drying-paper should be used, and frequently changed—twice during the first twenty-four hours, and once afterwards until the specimens are quite dry. Though dried specimens can be easily soaked out again for microscopic examination, they are never so good for this purpose as those that have been preserved in fluid. A good method of soaking is to place the part to be examined, over-night or longer, in absolute