PRESERVATION OF THE PHYSALTA. 13 



or defensive property analogous to that of the 

 Physalia, but for what purpose it would be diffi- 

 cult to form an opinion. 



The usual method adopted for the preser- 

 vation of this curious and beautiful mollusca is 

 by placing it in spirits ; the form is thus well 

 preserved ; but its vivid tints, the subject of so 

 much admiration, are totally lost. As it is with 

 the beautiful but evanescent colour of flowers, 

 no method has been discovered by which their 

 natural brilliancy can be preserved, and it is 

 impossible to retain that peculiar brightness 

 given only by life and health. I have preserved 

 the animal by detaching the tentaculse from the 

 bladder ; (on account of their being too soft and 

 perishable to enable them to be dried, en masse, 

 with any chance of success ; their form only 

 being preserved well in spirits ;) then permitting 

 the air to escape from the bladder, dried, 

 pressed, and afterwards gummed on paper, it 

 produces a good lateral view of the form of this 

 mollusca ; the colours being afterwards artifi- 

 cially renewed by the pencil, and the tentaculae 

 underneath drawn and coloured, the tout en- 

 semble conveys an idea of the brilliant appear- 

 ance of the animal, as far as can be produced 

 by art. I have also kept the animal with the 

 bladder inflated, dried it in that state, and, by 



