INTRODUCTION. xx j x 



beautifully, and specimens preserved in the Museum at Fort St. George are second to none pre- 

 pared in Europe: but inland the naturalist is thrown on his own resources. There is but little 

 difference between the dried skin and the stuffed fish, excepting that one has glass eyes winch the 

 other is without, and the latter is usually mounted, whilst the former is fixed on a board or to card- 

 board. In skinning fish there are two methods, each of which Las its followers : in one mode both 

 sides of the specimen are preserved, which is done, as in birds or mammals, by dividing the 

 skin along the mesial line of the abdomen and removing the whole of the body through the opening, 

 it is the most difficult of execution, and more of the scales are usually rubbed off and more injury 

 done to the specimen than in the second mode, in which nearly the whole of one side of the body 

 and head of the fish is removed, the vertical fins being left intact. The specimen should be laid 

 on a smooth flat moist dish, and if the scales are very deciduous it is advisable to cover the side 

 of the fish next to the dish with a piece of moistened thin paper : of course whichever mode is 

 preferred, it is necessary to preserve and stuff the skin to its natural size, arsenical soap being the 

 best preservative, whilst the fish should be subsequently painted over both externally and internally 

 with spirits of turpentine. The specimen should be dried upon a board, and the fins retained in 

 their proper situation until dry by means of pins. Subsequently the specimens should be var- 

 nished, and then each separately fastened on to a piece of cardboard. 



There is this disadvantage in dried skins and stuffed specimens, that the shape is usually 

 altered in preserving them, and accidents occur to the specimen, whilst they are not' nearly so 

 useful for scientific purposes as specimens in spirits, as they cannot be examined with reference to 

 many important points in their anatomy : but they are easier to carry from place to place, take up 

 less room, and are not so liable to spoil as those in spirit. 



The moist method is no doubt superior to the dry, provided the specimens can safely reach a 

 Museum : an incision should be made into the abdomen, penetrating the air bladder ; the specimen 

 should then be placed in spirit strong enough to burn when a flame is brought into contact with it. 

 It should be allowed to remain thus some days, when the spirit should be removed, and some about 

 4 or 5 degrees stronger substituted. Should it be desired to carry the specimens any distance, 

 each should be separately sewn up in some soft calico. It is necessary from time to time to 

 examine the bottles, in order to see if the strength of the spirit is decreasing. 



In some specimens received from the Rev. H. Baker, Junior, from Travancore, bichloride of 

 mercury was added to the spirit, but apparently without acting beneficially. A small amount of 

 arsenic would probably prove advantageous in the spirit, but there are of course certain dangers to 

 be guarded against in poisonous fluids. 



Catalogues of Indian fishes, as " Ichthyological Gleanings in Madras," in the Madras Journal 

 of Literature and Science, by De. Jeedon, and my own paper on the Fishes of Cochin, in the Pro- 

 ceedings of the Zoological Society of London, are not referred to unless they contain descriptions 

 of new species. Some of De. Jeedon's descriptions in his Fresh Water Fishes of Southern India, 



