THE MUSEUM. 



237 



on them, not omitting the inside of 

 the mouth and the gills. In cleansing 

 fish that tiave a tough, scaleless skin, 

 or such as have the scales firmly fixed, 

 use a stiff paint brush or a scrubbing 

 brush; for the thin-skinned fish and 

 such as have deciduous scales, a softer 

 brush must be taken. Some fish are 

 covered plentifully with tenacious 

 mucus that is with great difficulty re- 

 moved by water alone; in such cases a 

 solution of two tablespoonfuls of alum 

 in a pint of lukewarm water will be 

 found efficacious. 



2. It is often necessary to preserve 

 fish that are stale, or partially digest- 

 ed, and offensive to the smell. Such 

 examples may be thoroughly disin- 

 fected by the use of the disinfecting 

 solution of chloride of soda. Use a 

 tablespoonful of the solution in one 

 pint of water. With this wash the 

 gills, and pour it into the mouth and 

 stomach, allowing it to return by the 

 mouth. 



3. Inject alcohol in the mouth and 

 the vent, to preserve the viscera. 

 Make small incisions in the belly and 

 in the thick parts of the body, to allow 

 the alcohol to penetrate the tissues. 

 It is often necessary to remove the 

 liver, stomach, and intestines from 

 large fish, and to preserve these sep- 

 arately, numbering them ?o as to cor- 

 respond with the fish from which they 

 are taken. 



4. It is a good plan to keep fresh- 

 ly collected fishes in weak alcohol for 

 a day or two; a mixture of two parts 

 of 95 per cent alcohol to one of water 

 will answer for this temporary immer- 

 sion. Some species are exceedingly 

 soft and flabby, falling to the bottom 

 of a glass jar or other receptacle, be- 

 coming partly imbedded in their own 



mucus, and rapidly disintegrating in 

 consequence. Such specimens should 

 either be suspended in the alcohol by 

 a thread or string from the neck of the 

 jar or the hook sometimes found on 

 the inside of the stopple, or a bed of 

 excelsior or muslin should raise them 

 from the bottom; these are necessary 

 precautions which will prevent many 

 losses. After the fish have been kept 

 for not more than two days in the 

 weak alcohol, transfer them to a mix- 

 ture of three parts of 95 per cent al- 

 cohol to one of water. Ordinarily 

 this latter will preserve specimens that 

 are not crowded too much at least 

 three months; some, of course, will 

 remain in good condition still longer; 

 but, generally, three months will re- 

 duce the preservative power of the li- 

 quid so far as to make a renewal of 

 alcohol necessar)'. The tendency 

 with many collectors is to overcrowd 

 specimens, and, as a result, museums 

 frequently receive a lot of half-rotton 

 material which is too valuable to be 

 thrown away and is yet always a 

 source of trouble and disappointment. 

 A jar, tank, or case of any kind should 

 never be expected to accommodate 

 more than half its own bulk of fish, 

 and even this proportion will require 

 watchfulness to avoid loss. If a col- 

 lection freshly caught is to be shipped 

 to a distant museum or private collec- 

 tion, observe the directions about 

 cleaning the fish and preserving the 

 viscera separately if needful, and then 

 use nothing weaker than a mixture 

 containing three parts of 95 per cent 

 alcohol and one part of water. A 

 good mixture which will carry fish in 

 very nice condition is the following: 

 95 percent 'for absolute; alcohol, 3 

 quarts; water, i quart; glycerine, i 



