Containers for the snails as they are collected may be of various types. 

 If the collecting is being done from a row boat a pail, or several small pails, 

 may be used. Empty tin cans, from which the cover has been removed by 

 a modern can opener and the edge is smooth, are excellent, and specimens 

 from different localities or habitats may be separated, as is always desirable. 

 If one is traveling overland, either tramping or by the ever useful family 

 auto, the containers may be some of the wide-mouthed bottles for pills, 

 which have screw stoppers of hard rubber. Several of these may be carried 

 in large pockets or in a canvas bag which may be slung over the shoulder. 

 If the collecting is by auto the cans mentioned for lake collecting may be 

 used. Often the jars (pint) used for canning fruit are useful for this 

 purpose. 



In deep water an Ekman dredge made of brass is necessary, but this is 

 rather complicated and the average collector will scarcely find use for this 

 apparatus. 



How to Prepare Snails for the Cabinet. It is of the first importance 

 to clean and prepare properly the snails to be preserved. The small species, 

 such as Amnicola, Valvata, Gyraulus, etc., may be placed in a solution of 

 about 75 percent grain alcohol. The snails will retract well within the 

 shell and away from the aperture and the operculum of such genera as 

 Amnicola and Valvata, which should be saved in all cases, will be preserved. 

 The snails will die and may be dried on blotting paper. They will leave no 

 offensive odor. 



Larger species, and those small species from which the animal can be 

 easily removed, should be killed by immersion in boiling water for a few 

 minutes. The animal may be extracted with a dissecting needle, which may 

 easily be made by forcing the eye-end of a medium sized needle into a 

 handle of soft wood, the handle to be 4 or 5 inches in length. The bodies 

 of the snails will easily pull away from the shells if the needle is pushed 

 firmly into the snail's body and the shell is given a slight twist in the 

 opposite direction. A pair of small forceps, which should be an indis- 

 pensable implement of every collector's outfit, will also help in extracting 

 the dead bodies of the snails. 



In such large snails as Campeloma and Viviparus, as well as the elon- 

 gated snails of Goniobasis and Pleurocera, the body will often come away 

 minus the liver which remains within the shell. For cleaning these snails a 

 wire bent in the form of a corkscrew will be found helpful. This should be 

 sharpened at the end. The writer has used a small fish hook for this pur- 

 pose. A syringe is useful to wash out the animal m.atter from the larger 

 shells. Every effort should be made to remove all of the animal possible 

 from the shell to avoid disagreeable odors. In cleaning the large snails, if 

 you hold firmly to the body with the needle or corkscrew apparatus and 

 carefully twist the shell the body of the snail will usually come away easily. 



If there are incru';tations of foreign matter on the shells, especially the 

 larger species, these may be removed by brushing with an old tooth brush. 

 Sometimes algal lime incrustations will need to be scraped off with a knife. 



(57) 



