TAXIDERMY. 129 



From it, and the shell wrapped in paper, with u 

 number corresponding to that of the bottle in which 

 the animal is enclosed. To separate the animal 

 from the shell, we plunge it into spirits of wine, 

 and when it is dead, we easily take it out with a 

 pointed instrument. 



The sea is inhabited by an infinity of soft or 

 gelatinous animals called mollusca, some of which 

 live isolated, others in societies. The greater 

 part of these animals are unknown, and the study 

 of them is so much more important, as they give 

 us general notions on the organisation of beings, 

 and the diversity of forms in which animated nature 

 presents herself. 



Surgeons, and lovers of natural history might 

 procure us a great number of these animals, in 

 their voyages. It is sufficient to take them with a 

 net, to wash them well in fresh water, put them 

 into spirits, with the above precautions; immedi- 

 ately to write the latitude of the place where they 

 were taken ; if they live singly or in numbers ; if 

 they are phosphoric ; if they were deep in the water, 

 or on the surface. As the colours of gelatinous 

 animals do not always preserve in spirits, it is pro- 

 per to make a memorandum of them. 



At a great depth in the sea exist multitudes of 



animals which never appear on the surface, and 



which are entirely unknown. We might procure 



many by joining something to the sounding-lead, 



G 5 



