433 



JOTTINGS FROM THE BIOLOGICAL LABORATORY OF 

 SYDNEY UNIVERSITY. 



By Professor William A. Haswell, M.A., D.Sc. 



No. 15. On a Simple Method of substituting Strong Alco- 

 hol for a Watery Solution in the Preparation of 

 Specimens. 



Lo Bianco has in the last part of the " Mittheilungen aus der 

 Zoologischen Station zu Neapel," published an account of the 

 methods which he follows in preparing those marvellous specimens 

 of marine invertebrates for which the Station has long been famous 

 all over the world. Many of the methods described have now 

 been known to zoologists for some time, i.e., many of the methods 

 of killing and fixing : it is more, perhaps, on account of the 

 information which it gives us, as the result of a long series of 

 trials, as to what re-agents are best adapted to each special 

 group, with the best modes of application in each case, than as 

 giving any entirely new formulae, that the paper is of value. 



As is well known, marine animals of different groups require to 

 be dealt with in very different ways in order that we may preserve 

 them in anything approaching to their natural form. Some may 

 be taken by surprise, if we may use the expression, and killed so 

 suddenly by some powerful poison that they remain fixed in a 

 life-like shape. Others must be narcotised or paralysed by some 

 such re-agent as chloroform, weak alcohol, or chloral hydrate, 

 before the killing and fixing agent is used. 



Whatever be the method of killing and fixing employed, there 

 is in all delicate organisms a difficulty experienced in preventing 



