342 



THE MUSEUM. 



'Fossil Plum"? 



where the necessary skill is available. 

 As, however, the solution is highly 

 poisonous, it will be necessary to state 

 the tact of its use on the outside of the 

 box to prevent the fish from being ac- 

 cidently eaten. • It is probable that 

 this solution will, in itself, keep the 

 fish in good condition for a number of' 

 days, even without the use of ice; al- 

 though to make sure of this, it should 

 be injected into the aorta or heart as 

 stated above. 



The instructions given above will 

 answer in general for reptiles also. 

 Mammals may be treated in a some- 

 what similar manner; but birds would 

 be injured by the melting ice. The 

 Wickersheimer solution will probably 

 preserve them very well without any 

 further treatment, except that of en- 

 veloping them, to prevent the feathers 

 from being disturbed. The original 

 formula of this was given in grammes 

 and litres, but the quantities have been 

 reduced and a sufficiently close ap- 

 proximation made into grains and 

 quarts to answer the purpose. As 

 stated by Wickersheimer the formula 

 is 100 grammes of alum, 25 of salt, 12 

 of saltpetre, 60 of potash, 20 of arsen- 

 ious acid, and three litres of boiling 

 water. To each 10 litres of the cool- 

 ed and filtered solution add four litres 

 of glycerine and one of alcohol. 



The recipe of Jean Wickersheimer, 

 Taxidermist of the Berlin University, 



for preserving animal substances for 

 an indefinite period of time in their 

 natural condition, has been purchased 

 by the Prussian Government for free 

 use throughout the Empire. It is 

 used both by injection and immersion of 

 the object, and is prepared as follows: 

 Take of alum 500 grains. 



common salt 125 " 



saltpetre 60 " 



potash 300 '.' 



arsenious acid, 



(common arsenic) 100 " 



Dissolve these in one quart of boil- 

 ing water. The liquid is then to be 

 cooled and filtered; and for each quart 

 of the solution add four-tenths of a 

 quart of glycerine and one-tenth of a 

 quart of alcohol. 



For small objects immersion in the 

 solution for from 6 to 12 days will be 

 sufficient; larger ones are better pre- 

 served by injection. 



Caught a Sucking Fish. 



A striped remora, or sucking fish, 

 was found recently attached to the 

 bottom of one of the steam launches 

 which run around Glen Island, says 

 the Neiu York Sun. It was transfer- 

 red to one of the large tanks of the 

 Glen Island aquarium. The fish though 

 not rare, is a deep-sea fish, and is hard 

 to capture. It grows to the length of 

 twelve to eighteen inches. The flat 

 top of its head is surmounted by a 

 large sucking disk extending from near 

 the tip of the upper jaw to the ends 

 of the pectoral fins, or about one- 

 third of the total length of the fish. 

 The disk is made up of seventeen or 

 eighteen pairs of bony laminae, the 

 edges of which are furnished with rows 

 of minute tooth-like projections. With 



