216 NATURAL HISTORY. 



Apply the preservative ; fill the head with cotton as well as the body. 

 Turn over the skin and fix it on a board prepared for that purpose. 

 Pin or tack it down at the base of the fins. Have several narrow 

 bands of paper to place across the body in order to give it a natural 

 form, and let it dry. The skins may be taken off the board or re- 

 main fixed to it, when sent to their destination, where they should be 

 placed on suitable boards of proper size, for permanent preservation. 



Such a collection of well prepared fishes will be useful to the practi- 

 cal naturalist, and illustrate, in a more complete matter, to the public, 

 the diversified forms and characters of the class of fishes which speci- 

 mens preserved in alcohol do not so readily show. 



These skins may also be preserved.in alcohol. 



§ IV. PRESERVING IN LIQUIDS, AND BY OTHER MODES 

 BESIDES SKINNING. 



1. GENERAL REMARKS. 



The best material for preserving animals of moderate size is alcohol. 

 When spirits cannot be obtained, the following substitutes may be 

 used : 



I. Goadby's Solution. — A. The aluminous fluid, composed of rock- 

 salt, 4 ounces; alum, 2 ounces; corrosive sublimate, 4 grains; boiling 

 water, 2 quarts. B. The saline solution, composed of rock-salt, 8 

 ounces; corrosive sublimate, 2 grains; boiling water, 1 quart. To be 

 well stirred, strained, and cooled. 



II. A strong brine, to be used as hereafter indicated for Goadby's 

 solution. 



III. In extreme cases, dry salt may be used, and the specimens 

 salted down like herring, &c. 



The alcohol, when of the ordinary strength, may be diluted with 

 one-fifth of water, unless it is necessary to crowd the specimens very 

 much The fourth proof whiskey of the distillery, or the high wines, 

 constituting an alcohol of about 60 per cent., will be found best suited 

 for collections made at permanent stations and for the museum. Lower 

 proofs of rum or whiskey will also answer, but the specimen must not 

 be crowded at all. 



To use Goadby's solution, the animal should first be macerated for 

 a few hours in fresh water, to which about half its volume of the con- 

 centrated solution may then be added. After soaking thus for some 

 days, the specimens may be transferred to fresh concentrated solution. 

 "When the aluminous fluid is used to preserve vertebrate animals, these 

 should not remain in it for more than a ^inv^ days; after this they are 

 to be soaked in fresh water^ and transferred to the saline solution. An 

 immersion of some weeks in the aluminous fluid will cause a destruction 

 of the bones. Specimens must be kept submerged in these fluids. The 

 success of the operation will depend very much upon the use of a weak 

 solution in the first instance, and a change to the saturated fluid by 

 one or two intermediate steps. 



The collector should have a small keg, jar, tin box, or other suitable 

 vessel, partially filled with liquor, into which specimens may be thrown 



