FISHES. 397 



Various methods have been practised in the preservation 

 of fishes for a museum. The simplest method consists in 

 dividing the fish vertically and longitudinally, taking care to 

 preserve, attached to one side, the anal, dorsal, and caudal 

 fins. From this side the flesh is then to be scraped off, the 

 bones of the head reduced in size, the base of the fins 

 made thinner, and the specimen stretched out on paste- 

 board and dried. By this process a lateral view of the fish 

 is preserved ; and if the fins and gill-flap are cautiously 

 spread out, the specimen will furnish sufficient marks for 

 recognising the species. A collection of such fishes may be 

 kept in a portfolio, similar to an herbarium. 



Many species may be well preserved, by extracting the 

 contents of the body at the mouth, or skinning the fish, 

 with the skin entire from the mouth towards the tail, in 

 the same way as eels are prepared for cooking. Let the skin 

 be restored to its former position, fill the whole with fine 

 sand, and having spread out the fins, let it be dried with 

 care. Almost all wide-mouthed, cylindrical, or tapering 

 fishes may be preserved in this manner. Some recommend 

 filling the skin with plaster of Paris, while others employ 

 cotton. Preserved fishes are usually covered with a coat 

 of varnish, to restore in part the original lustre. But by no 

 means of this sort can we retain many of the brilliant colours 

 which the animals of this class possess when alive ; and even 

 the form of some of the soft parts cannot be preserved. 

 Hence fishes are in general preserved in bottles of spirits 

 of wine. In this way, it is true, they take up much room, 

 but they can be subjected to examination at pleasure, and 

 all their characters satisfactorily exhibited, except those de- 

 pending on colour. 



