1G8 COLLECTING AND CLEANING SHELLS. 



with a knife, or start them off with an engraving tool. A little 

 sand paper may also be used, but care must be taken not to in- 

 jure the shell. When as much of the crust is in this way re- 

 moved, as can with safety be done, recourse should be had to 

 muriatic acid, very much diluted with water ; by applying this 

 cautiously with a feather, to the places you wish removed, for a 

 very short period, it will soon decompose the extraneous matter. 

 Two minutes at a time is as long as it can with safety be applied, 

 but one minute's application often has the desired effect. It 

 should then be emersed in cold water, and the parts well scrub- 

 bed with a nail-brush and soap. Should the crust not be entire- 

 ly removed, this process may be repeated, but the greatest care 

 is to be used not to allow the acid to touch the inside, as it will 

 instantly remove the fine enamelled surface. Some are so 

 cautious as to melt bees' wax, and coat the parts of the shell 

 they do not wish touched with the acid. 



When water is used too hot, in the first process, it often 

 makes the fine polished surface crack in a thousand directions. 



After the process of corrosion, some make use of flannel or a 

 brush, and emery or tripoly, to polish the shell. This may be 

 done in cases where the polished insides happen to be touched 

 with the corrosive fluid ; but in all instances where the places 

 cleared by the acid, are of a white or chalky appearance, they 

 should be washed over with Florence oil, and then rubbed hard 

 with flannel or a nail-brush. This mode gives the shell the ap- 

 pearance of nature, and at same time stops the action of the 

 acid, should any remain in the shell, and is of great use in pre- 

 serving it from decay. It is of infinite use in preserving the 

 epidermis, which often, when it becomes dry from lying long in 

 a cabinet, cracks and quits the external surface of the shell. It 

 would not be amiss to rub them over with oil once a year. 



This practice of oiling shells is a new one, and I believe I 

 was the first who thought of it, and have communicated it to all 

 my friends who collect shells ; and it has been generally approv- 

 ed. Indeed one friend, who had a very large collection, was so 

 pleased with the effect it produced, that he washed off the gum 

 from all his shells, and oiled them. The common practice of 

 collectors is, when they obtain a specimen which is a little worn, 

 to coat it over with a solution of gum arable, which certainly 

 heightens the colours ; but the gloss is by no means natural, and 



