Sect. XL] 



ZOOLOGY. 



S47 





<<b. « 



>.i 



^ J. 



1 



1 



• i 



I 



^ 



- *A 



^ ■/ 



f A 



I. 



^.-.i" 



tH' 



^' 



^^' 



sheets of soft soaking-paper, and put mider presBure, and 



in most cases the specimen adheres in drying to the paper 

 on which it is laid out. Care must be taken to prevent 

 the blotting-paper sticking to the specimens and destroy- 

 ing them. Frequent changes of drying-paper (once in six 

 hours), and cotton rags laid over the specimensj are the 

 best preservatives. The collector should have at hand 

 four or five dozen pieces of unglazed thin calico (such as 

 sells for 2d. or 3(L per yard), each piece about eighteen 

 inches long and twelve inches wide, one of which, with 

 two or three sheets of paper, should be laid over every 

 sheet of specimens as it is put in the press. These 

 cloths are only required in the first two or three changes 



of drying-papers ; for, once the specimen has begun 



to dry, it will adhere to the paper on whicii it has 

 been floated in preference to the blotting-paj^r laid 



over it.''* 



For dried specimens of corallines, corals, and sponges,, 

 it is advisable to soak the specimen for a time in feesli 

 water before drying. They may then be packed amon 

 the rough-dried sea-weeds in boxes ; but the more deli- 

 cate specimens should be placed in &c>>^-ate chip-boxes. 

 with cotton. 



With regard to corals, etc., it must be remembered that 

 dried specimens are but the skeletons of those animals. 





and that only the "horny" and "calcareous" s|3ecie 



be so preserved. The " fleshy " kinds, comrnonly 



nal- 



can 



" sea- anemones," 



known as " polypes," 



flowers," must be preserved entire in alcohol or sahne 



Dr. Harvey, in Mr. Ball's ' Report ou the Dublin Universitv Mu, 

 seum,' p. 3. 



-V 



