234 HINTS FOE COLLECTING. 



Such dried produce often yields an abundant gleaning 

 to an industrious picker. A plain black japanned tray/ 

 a few small shallow cardboard or wooden trays lined with 

 the finest black cloth, a delicate plier or forceps made of 

 horn or some soft metal, a set of sable or camel-hair 

 brushes, and lenses or magnifying-glasses of different 

 powers (a microscope is not wanted) will be the appa- 

 ratus most useful to the naturalist for his "triage." Live 

 shells may be killed by plunging them into boiling or 

 scalding water. In the case of univalves the animals can 

 be removed with a crooked wire or fine crochet-needle, 

 the operculum (if there is any) being preserved with the 

 shell ; in the case of bivalves, the animal is easily ex- 

 tracted with a penknife or scalpel ; and, while the shells 

 are wet, the valves of most specimens should be tied to- 

 gether with thread, one or two being left open to show 

 the hinge and inside. All marine shells must be soaked 

 for some hours in fresh water ; otherwise the chemical 

 action of sea-salt on the carbonate of lime, of which 

 they are composed, will erode the surface; and care 

 must be taken not to rub off the epidermis by using too 

 hard a brush in cleaning them. The arrangement of 

 shells in a collection must depend on the fancy of the 

 conchologist. I use mahogany tablets, | inch thick, 

 of various sizes, covered with paper of a neutral tint, 

 and a patch of black for minute shells ; and I fasten 

 the specimens with gum (f tragacanth and | arabic) 

 slowly dissolved in an equal bulk of water, to which a 

 few drops of spirit of wine are added from time to time 

 as a preservative against mould. Instead of wooden 

 tablets, glass slides of half the thickness may be used ; 

 and in the case of a single specimen of a univalve shell, 

 both sides can be examined by leaving a hole in the 

 paper and fastening the specimen to the glass. 



