THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 

 THE COLLECTION OF FISHES. 



IHE first instalment oi a much needed addition to 

 our collection of fishes has been received recently 

 at the Museum. It consists of five specimens of 

 Bahama fishes which have been specially pre- 

 pared. The work has been done by Sherman F. 

 Denton, who has given many years' study to fish preparation, 

 and the results are most satisfactory. The chief reason that 

 attractive collections of fishes are so seldom seen in museums is 

 that no fluid has been discovered which will presers^e their natu- 

 ral colors with any degree of permanency. The usual method of 

 placing fish in round jars of alcohol is unsightly and unsatisfac- 

 tory, while casts in plaster or wax arc only casts, not specimens. 

 The ideal method of exhibition would be to have the fishes, in 

 their natural colors, mounted in fluid, and in a lifelike position. 

 At present, however, this is impossible, and these specimens, pre- 

 pared according to Mr. Denton's method, serve as fair substi- 

 tutes. The process of preparation requires considerable skill and 

 artistic ability. The skin of the fish is removed by cutting down 

 one side of the body. It is then treated with preservatives and 

 fitted over a papier-mache model. The side to be exposed to 

 view is painted in oil, to give a lifelike color, and the completed 

 sjiecimcn is mounted in a natural position on a suitable back- 



A NEW COLLECTION OF FOSSIL SPONGES. 



HE sponges which are so familiar to the ]3ublic are 

 the homy skeletons of colonies of animals of low 

 development. The living animals inhabit tropical 

 oceans and seas, and, although so often seen in 

 shops and homes, are perhaps the least common 

 of the scores of species of sponges which occur so plentifully in 

 the warm parts of the ocean, to say nothing of the many other 

 and very abundant forms found in the colder seas. When li\-ing, 

 the commercial sponges are very unattractive, the animal being 



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