650 MANUAL OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



placed in the collecting-jar ; it is advisable also to 

 enclose each individual in a calico or muslin bag, to 

 prevent injury from rubbing against other objects. 

 Delicate species ought not to be placed indiscrimi- 

 nately with tougher kinds, but should be kept in 

 small numbers by themselves, and be preserved in 

 camphorated spirit. Each, when placed in the col- 

 lecting-jar, should have a tally attached to it cor- 

 responding with a number in the note-book, where 

 all necessary particulars should be recorded. 



Skinning. Extreme caution is sometimes neces- 

 sary in skinning fish to prevent the loss of scales ; 

 those species, therefore, which have this covering 

 loosely attached, should have a piece of tissue or 

 other thin paper pasted over them, or be covered over 

 with mucilage before the operation is commenced. 



Fish, such as the Perch, may be preserved either 

 entire or as sections. For the former method, an 

 opening is made along the abdomen extending 

 the entire length of the fish, or along the lateral 

 line ; in either case, the skin is to be turned back on 

 both sides, the head separated from the vertebras, 

 the fins cut through with scissors, and, when the 

 whole body has been skinned, the fleshy portion and 

 spine are to be divided at the tail ; the different parts 

 of the head, where there is muscle, should then be 

 attended to ; and although it is always difficult, 

 and frequently impossible, to remove this, yet an 

 opening in it may be made with a blunt scalpel, to 

 enable some preservative to be applied, and more 

 particularly in order that stuffing may be thrust in, 



