234 HINTS FOR COLLECTING. 



Sucli dried produce often yields an abundant gleaning 

 to an industrious picker. A plain black japanned tray, 

 a few small sliallow 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 oft' 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 ^ arable) 

 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. 



