THE PRESERVATION OF MARINE OBJECTS 89 



Where one has the mechanical ability, and the time to spare, 

 the construction of a cabinet with the required number of drawers 

 may be undertaken, and there is no better form of store than this. 

 The whole should be made of well-seasoned wood, and the drawers 

 should vary in depth according to the size of the specimens they 

 are to contain. Some of these drawers may be lined with sheet 

 cork, and the cork covered with white paper or a thin layer of 

 cotton wool. This will enable some of the specimens to be fixed 

 in their places by means of pins. As a rule, however, no pins will 

 be required, and the specimens will be most conveniently arranged 

 in shallow cardboard boxes, placed in rows in the drawer, a little 

 cotton wool covering the bottom of each. 



Failing the usual cabinet, the specimens may be stored in 

 shallow trays or boxes, or even in the little cardboard cabinets so 

 often sold for storing stationery &c. The best and cheapest things 

 of this kind we have ever met with are the little cabinets, each con- 

 taining either six or twelve drawers, made by Macdonald & Co., 

 of Temple Eow, Birmingham. By the use of such as these the 

 specimens may be neatly stored away, and additions to match may 

 always be made as the collection increases in magnitude. 



The specimens should all be classified according to their 

 positions in the animal or vegetable world, and accompanied by 

 labels giving the name of species and genus, together with localities, 

 habitats, &c. The outlines of classification may be studied from 

 the later chapters of this work, in which the common objects of the 

 sea shore are described in their scientific order, beginning with the 

 lowest sub-kingdoms and classes ; and further, it will be observed 

 that the sub-kingdoms are divided into classes, the classes into 

 orders, orders into families, families into genera, and that the 

 genera contain a smaller or larger number of closely allied species. 



The collection must be kept in a perfectly dry place, otherwise 

 many of the specimens will be liable to develop moulds, and this 

 will, of course, quite spoil their appearance. It is almost sure to 

 be attacked by mites and other animal pests unless some means 

 be taken to prevent their intrusion. 



As regards the latter, it is well to know that it is far easier to 

 prevent the intrusion of small animal pests than it is to exterminate 

 them after they have once found an entrance; and so, from the 

 very commencement of the formation of the collection, all drawers 

 and boxes should be charged with some substance that is objec- 

 tionable, if not fatal, to them. Small lumps of naphthaline 



