218 NATURAL HISTORY. 



muslin, &c., to preserve the scales. In general, fishes, under twelve 

 or fifteen inches in length should be chosen. The skins of larger ones 

 may be put in liquor. It is important to collect even the smallest. 

 The same princii)les apply to the other vertebrata. 



The smallest and must delicate specimens may be placed in bottles 

 or vials, and packed in the larger vessels with the other specimens. 



3. INVERTEBRATA. 



Insects, Bugs, &c. — The harder kinds may be put in liquor, as 

 above, but the vessel or bottle should not be very large. Butterflies, 

 wasps, flies, &c., may be pinned in boxes, or packed in layers with 

 soil paper or cotton. Minute species should be carefully sought under 

 stones, bark, dung, or flowers, or swept with a small net from grass 

 or leaves. The}'- may be put in quills, small cones of paper, or in 

 glass vials. They can be readily killed by immersing the bottles, (fee, 

 in which they are collected, in hot water, or exposing them to the 

 vapor of ether. 



■When possible, a number of oz. or 2 oz. vials, with very wide mouths, 

 well stopped by corks, should be procured, in which to place the more 

 delicate invertebrata, as small Crustacea, worms, mollusca^ &c. 



It will frequently be found convenient to preserve or transport in- 

 sects pinned down in boxes. The bottoms of these are best lined with 

 cork or soft wood. The accompanying figures will explain, better 

 than any description, the particular part of different kinds of insects 

 through which the pin is to be thrust: beetles being pinned through 

 the right wing-cover or elytra; all others through the middle of the 

 thorax. 



The traveller will find it very convenient to carry about him a vial 

 having a broad mouth, closed by a tight cork. In this should be con- 

 tained a piece of camphor, or, still better, a sponge soaked in ether, 

 to kill the insects collected. From this the specimens should be trans- 

 ferred to other bottles. They may, if not hairy, be killed by immers- 

 ing directly in alcohol. 



The camphor should always be fixed in the box containing insects, 

 as it would break the feet and antennae of the latter if in a loose and 

 crystalline state. It may be kept in a piece of muslin or canvass, and 

 then pinned at the bottom of the box. 



Sea-urchins and starfishes may also be dried, after having been pre- 

 viously immersed for a minute or two in boiling water, and packed up 

 in cotton, or any soft material which may be at hand. 



The hard parts of coral and shells of mollusca may also be pre- 

 served in a dried state. The soft parts are removed by immersing 

 the animals for a minute or two in hot water, and washing clean after- 

 wards. The valves of bivalve shells should be brought together by 

 a string. 



Wingless insects, such as spiders, scorpions, centipedes or thousand- 

 legs, earth-worms, hair-worms, and generally all worm-like animals 

 found in the water, should be preserved in alcoholic liquor, and in 

 small bottles or vials. 



