324 ANIMAL COMMUNITIES 
the place at various times of day and night and at various times of the 
year, to overturn and open all loose objects. It is necessary therefore to 
collect animals which have been observed in nature in such a manner 
that the correct names can be applied later. It is customary to assign 
numbers to the animals. The method commonly used is as follows: 
Loose sheets of ruled paper are filled in with the locality, date, 
weather, etc., carbon copies usually being made as a matter of safety and 
convenience. Next, an animal, say a spider, is observed as fully as time 
permits, the observations are recorded, and the specimen, if small, is 
placed in a 4-drachm homeopathic vial containing alcohol. The notes 
are written in abbreviated form on a slip, and the same number assigned 
to the notes and to the slip which is put in the bottle. Animals too large 
to put into bottles are prepared in the same way by tying a tag to them. 
In due time the bottle is sent to a specialist who assigns the name, which 
is recorded in a blank space on the note sheet. A new sheet is filled 
out for each different habitat, and later all the sheets relating to one 
kind of a situation can be brought together. 
Nearly all animals can be sufficiently well preserved to permit 
identification by specialists, in the following manner: 
a) Vertebrates, in ro per cent formalin, the abdomen opened to permit the fluid 
to enter. 
b) Crustaceans, most insects, spiders, worms, and lower forms by dropping into 
8o per cent alcohol. 
c) Insect larvae and pupae must be subjected to high temperature, 80° C., or 
they will turn black. Vials or bottles containing them with corks removed 
should be set in a pan of hot water for 20 minutes immediately after 
returning from the field. 
d) Flies must be killed by poison fumes, pinned in the field, and the pins set in 
suitable boxes. 
e) Moths and butterflies must be killed by fumes and pinned; the partial 
spreading of one pair of wings will suffice and save much time. 
