262 THE DEPTHS OF THE SEA. [CHAP. V1. 
together in one jar, or they will very shortly become 
discoloured; and the jars ought to be looked to care- 
fully and the spirit tested, and if necessary renewed 
after they have been set aside for a day or two, as 
sea-animals contain a large quantity of water. In 
hot weather, and if the specimens be bulky, it is 
often better to use strong spirit. The ordinary 
methylated spirit of commerce answers sufficiently 
well for ordinary purposes, though if a specimen be 
reserved for minute dissection, I prefer using pure, 
or even absolute alcohol. 
For very delicate transparent objects,--such as 
salpee, siphonophora, polycystina, &c.,— Goadby’s 
solution seems to be preferable: but do what we 
may, a preserved specimen of one of these lovely 
objects is a mere caput mortuum, a melancholy sug- 
gestion of its former beauty; good only for the 
demonstration of anatomical structure. 
In preserving marine animals dry, as much of 
the soft parts should be removed as possible, and 
replaced by tow or cotton, and the object to be 
dried should be steeped in several changes of fresh 
water to get rid of the whole of the salt, and then 
dried very thoroughly and not too quickly. Every 
specimen, whether dry or in spirit, should be labelled 
at once, with the number under which this particular 
dredging is entered in the dredger’s note-book. It 
is wonderful how soon things get into confusion 
if this be not rigorously attended to. The small 
paper tickets with a fancy margin and gummed on 
the back, which haberdashers use for ticketing 
their goods, are to be had of all wholesale 
stationers at nominal prices, and they are very con- 
