90 STAR FISH. 
There should always be plenty of camphor kept in the 
drawers, otherwise there is great danger to be apprehended | 
from mites: where these exist, they are easily discovered by | 
the dust which is under the insects by which they are infested. — 
In which case, they must be immediately taken out, and | 
rubbed clean with a fine camel’s hair pencil, and well imbued | 
with the solution of corrosive sublimate, and then placed near 
_ a fire, taking care, however, that too great a heat is not 
applied, as it will utterly destroy the specimen, The Butterfly, | 
Sphinx, and Moth tribes are extremely liable to the attack of 
mites, and should therefore be frequently examined. 
Store Boxes.— The neatest manner of constructing these, | 
is to have them about a foot square, the top and bottom about | 
| two inches deep, on the same principle as backgammon boards, 
_ the inside being lined with cork. 
CLASS X.—ECHINODERMATA. 
All the soft animals of this class ought to be preserved in 
bottles of spirits. Those with a coriaceous or crustaceous 
covering may be dried. 
Asterias.—STAR-FISH. 
Those Star-fish, which have fragile crustaceous tentacula, 
are difficult to preserve. They must first be immersed in fresh 
water for four or five hours, and then extended on a plank of 
soft wood ; the rays must be properly arranged, and pins used 
to keep them so, till they are quite dry. These are stuck into 
the plank, alongside the rays, and not into the rays them- 
selves. They must not, however, be placed near a fire, or in 
the rays of the sun, as, in either case, they will have a tendency 
to change their colours. It is almost invariably found, that all 
colours in the crustaceous coverings of animals become reddish 
by exposure to the heat of the sun or of a fire. 
The larger kinds should have the flesh cut out of the inside 
of the rays, and’a little of the dry preservative applied to 
them. The species called Medusa’s Heads undergo the 
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