290 Professor Owen on Collecting 



sand alternately, till the box, which sliould be water-tight, is quite 

 full, when it should be screwed down, and pitched at the seams. Mr 

 Darwin preserved all his dry specimens of insects, excepting the Lepi- 

 doptera, between layers of rag in pill-boxes, placing at the bottom a 

 bit of camphor, and they arrived in an excellent state. 



Mollusca (Cuttles, Squids, Snails, land and sea'), Shigi (land 

 and sea), Shell-fish, Cowries, Limpets, and Bivalves, as 

 Mussels, Oysters, Sfc. 

 " A superficial towing net, another, so constructed as to be kept 

 a fathom or two below the surface, and the deep-sea ti'awl, are the 

 principal agents for capturing these animals. But when the tide is 

 at the lowest, the collector should wade among the rocks and pools 

 near the shore, and search under overhanging ledges of rock, as tar 

 as his arms can reach. An iron rake, with long close-set teeth, will 

 be a useful implement on such occasions. He should turn over all 

 loose stones and growing sea-weeds, taking care to protect his hands 

 with gloves, and his feet with shoes and stockings, against the sharp 

 spines of Echini, the back fins of Weavers (sting-fishes), and the stings 

 of MeduscB (sea-nettles). In detaching chitons and j^atella (limpets), 

 which are all to be sought for on rocky coasts, the surgeon's spatula* 

 will prove a valuable assistant. Those who have paid particular at- 

 tention to preservhig chitons have found it necessary to suffer them 

 to die under pressure between two boards. Haliotides (sea-ears), 

 may be removed from the rocks to which they adhere, by throwing 

 a little warm water over them, and then giving them a sharp push 

 with the foot sideways, when mere violence would be of no avail with- 

 out mjuring the shell. lloUed madrepores and loose fragments of 

 rock sliould be turned over. Cypraa (cowries), and other Testacea, 

 are frequently harboured under them. Numbei's of mollusca, con- 

 chifera, and radiata, are generally to be found about coral reefs." 

 — Brodrip. 



Among the floating mollusca likely to be met with in the tropical 

 latitudes is the spirida, a small cephalopod with a chambered shell. 

 An entire specimen of this rare mollusc is a great desideratum ; and 

 if it should be captured alive, its movements should be watched in a 

 vessel of sea-water, with reference more especially to the power of 

 rising and sinking at will, and the position of the shell during those 

 actions. The chambered parts of the shell should be opened under 

 water, in order to determine if it contains a gas ; the nature of this 

 gas should likewise, if possible, be ascertained. As a part of the 

 shell of the spirula projects externally at the posterior part of the 



* A case kuife, in experienced hands, is even a better instrument ; but great 

 care must be taken not to wound the ligamentous border of the shell of the 

 chitons, and not to injure the edges of the limpets. 



