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THE PRESERVATION OF MARINE ANIMALS 

 FOR ZOOLOGICAL PURPOSES. 



By J. T. CUNNINGHAM, M.A. 



[The following brief exposition of the methods now employed 

 in biological laboratories for the preservation of marine forms has 

 been very kindly prepared by Mr. Cunningham, at our request, as a 

 guide for those taking part in the dredging excursions of the Club, 

 and in order to aid the collecting and preservation of specimens for 

 the Club's Museum. The necessity for the employment of these 

 refined methods of preservation, if specimens of any value to the 

 zoological student or histologist are desired, has been well pointed 

 out by Prof Playfair McMurrick in the " American Naturalist " : 

 " Unfortunately for our students, especially those living inland, and 

 depending largely for their knowledge of marine forms upon dried or 

 preserved specimens in museums, the old-fashioned methods of 

 throwing any material which the collector may find into a jar of 

 alcohol, without further attention, or else drying it in the sun, are 

 still almost the only ones made use of for the preservation of museum 

 specimens. The result is that the majority of forms which the 

 student has for study are either dried skeletons, or shrivelled up 

 monstrosities giving no idea whatever of the actual appearance of the 

 creatures supposed to be represented by them. How many college 

 museums possess a specimen of coral showing in any recognisable 

 form the polyps by which the skeleton coral was formed ? Or how 

 many have even a satisfactorily prepared Lamellibranch ? " We 

 feel sure that Mr. Cunningham's directions, bearing as they do the 

 authority of an experienced naturalist perfectly acquainted with the 

 work of the Marine Biological Laboratory at Plymouth, willi)e wel- 

 comed by those of our readers taking an interest in marine zoology. 

 Should any difficulties arise in practice, we shall be glad to aid or 

 to obtain aid in solving them, and we hope shortly to be enabled to 

 supplement Mr. Cunningham's paper by one giving some practical 

 hints on the methods of exhibiting the specimens to the best 

 advantage, in bottles or jars, etc., for museum purposes. — Ed.] 



FOR centuries alcohol has been universally employed for preserv- 

 ing animals or preparations of parts of animals for zoological 

 investigation or study, or for exhibition. Other liquids, such as 

 glycerine, have been occasionally used ; but alcohol has been found 

 most generally useful, and it is at this day more indispensable to the 

 zoologist than ever. In this country, for fiscal reasons, pure ethyl 

 alcohol, or spirits of wine (whether absolute or diluted to a greater or 

 less degree with water) is expensive, and it can only be obtained in 



