SOME HINTS ON NATURAL HISTORY SPECIMENS. 111 
cork, and pinned close together in the box, where they can safely travel and 
dry at the same time, 
[X]. Bats should be pinned out just like other animals with their wings 
closely folded up on each side of the body, in such a way as not to hide the 
fur of the belly. The thumbs should be made to point inwards or backwards, 
not outwards, One or two specimens of each species should also, if possible, 
be preserved in spirits, 
These directions Mr, Thomas follows with a note as to what are specially 
wanted, which he describes as “ Generally all small mammals, however common, 
“so long as they are not domesticated, or inhabitants of houses, é.e., squirrels, 
“ yats, mice, shrews, moles, bats, weasels, stoats, &c. &c, Do not be afraid of 
“sending too many of the same sort, if carefully prepared and labelled 
“as above described, ; : : Series of skins representing 
“the different seasons are always of interest.” 
The skins can of course be treated in other ways just as those of larger 
animals are, and the “ pickle’ bath already described will sometimes in their 
ease be found the most convenient when the time cannot be spared to prepare 
them as nice specimens by the dry process, Then, when the collector has 
more time on his hands, they can be gone through carefully and made up into 
specimens. In this way, too,a certain amount of time and trouble may be 
saved by only selecting a good series of each of the commoner species for 
making into specimens, The procedure as regards the “setting” &c., will be 
just the same as described above for a fresh skin, 
A third way of treating small mammals is by preserving them, as alluded 
to by Mr, Thomas in the case of bats, in <pirit, and the advantage of this is 
of course that there is no skinning to be done, This in some instances must 
be a consideration to the busy collector who can only give a very limited 
amount of time to such work, but, on the other hand, it has the disadvantage 
that, if so preserved, they can never be turned subsequently into dried speci- 
mens, and for the purposes of scientific investigation, the latter are found to 
be much the most reliable so far as the smaller mammals are concerned, How- 
ever, in the case of rare species at any rate, it is always advisable to preserve 
one or two specimens in spirits. The process is simple in the extreme, The 
spirit is simply ordinary methylated spirits, such as is used for burning in 
small lamps. A few incisions must be made in the abdominal region, so that 
the spirit may be able to thoroughly penetrate those parts. Then the whole 
animal is immersed in the spirit, which can be contained in any suitable re- 
ceptacle, and the mouth of course kept tightly closed to prevent evaporation, 
The specimen must be given plenty of room at first, so that it may become 
thoroughly impregnated, 
For the purpose of labelling it is as well to note that the usual paper label 
can be used, only the entries thereon must, if it is going into spirits, be made 
with an ordinary icad pencil instead of with ink, 
