PDF file (text) - Cryptogamic Botany Company

24
THE MARINE ALGÆ OF NEW ENGLAND.
for a short time in some dilute acid, which, by removing the calcareous matter,
renders the specimens more flexible.
As we have said, selected material for future study should be put into alcohol.
Several other preserving fluids have been recommended, but none in the long run do
as well as alcohol. Some species do well in glycerine, especially parasites like
Streblonema and Bulbocoleon, which grow in the fronds of other species. A one per
cent. solution of osmic acid is a favorite preserving fluid of some botanists. Certain
sea-weeds, as the Phæosporeæ, can be mounted for the microscope in almost any of
the ordinary mounting fluids, and keep very well. The Florideæ, on the other hand,
do not keep at all well, and after a few months the preparations begin to spoil. A
saturated solution of calcic chloride, a mixture of glycerine and acetic acid, half and
half, boiled and filtered, weak solutions of carbolic acid, or a one per cent. solution of
osmic acid are all about equally good for mounting algæ. As we have said,
Phæosporeæ generally do well and Florideæ badly, but one sometimes has success
even with the latter.