468 Hints for the Preservation [Aug. 



enough of the preservative penetrates to that organ to prevent injury to 

 the surrounding parts, if the mouth is well filled, and an iron rod or 

 skewer employed to pierce the various parts of the head from the mouth. 

 Some reptiles of this order have long necks ; in them the neck may be 

 skinned through an incision made in the lower part, where the neck 

 joins the chest ; but when the shell is removed, there is no difficulty in 

 skinning the neck through the opening that is necessarily made. 



Chelonian reptiles may be stuffed with cotton, like mammalia, for the 

 purpose of conveying them from one place to another. 



The larger lizards, crocodiles, alligators, &c. must be skinned and 

 stuffed, and treated in all respects as mammalia. The smaller may be put 

 into spirit. 



Frogs are very difficult to deal with : they are hard to skin and stuff; 

 and when done, the colours for the most part fade. In spirit, the colours 

 fade also, but not so much, perhaps as when preserved dry, while the 

 form is kept better. 



Toads are generally of a sombre colour, and keep pretty well either 

 stuffed or in spirit. 



It is not an agreeable thing to stuff a toad. It is done by putting a 

 sharp-pointed pair of scissors into his mouth, cutting through the spine, 

 and drawing it, and the whole of the inside, out through the mouth. The 

 thighs and fore-legs are to be separated from the rest of the skeleton, and 

 replaced in the skin ; or if time is allowed, the skeleton itself may be de- 

 nuded of all the soft parts, and replaced in the skin : and the skin is then 

 to be filled by the mouth with sand. The feet should be fastened down 

 with pins to a bit of card or soft wood, and the preparation put to dry: 

 when dry, a hole should be made in the belly, to let out the sand, and it 

 should be varnished with some good hard, colorless varnish : copal per- 

 haps is the best*. 



Very large snakes may be stuffed as mammalia are, taking care, however, 

 not to fill the skin so full as is generally done. The size of the artificial 

 body should be as near possible that of the natural one. Small snakes 

 should be kept in spirit of wine. 



Fishes. 

 Fishes, if small, may be put into spirit of wine — if large, they must be 

 skinned, very carefully, and stuffed. It is an easy way of stuffing fish, to 

 make an incision along the side of the dorsal or back fin, laying the fish 

 open from end to end. The back bone, and all the inside, is then to be 

 taken out as close to the skin as may be, without cutting it ; the arsenical 

 soap is applied well over the inside, the incision sewed up, and the skin 

 filled with sand by the mouth. When full, the mouth should be open- 

 ed or shut, according to the position it is wished for it to remain in — a 

 wire, twisted into a tripod at each end, is placed to support the fish, and 

 allow it to dry ; and when nearly dry, it must be varnished, with the same 

 varnish as that recommended for reptiles ; by which means, the colours are 

 pretty well preserved. When the fish is quite dry, the sand must be poured 

 out at the mouth, and the specimen is ready to be sent to its destination. 



Crustacea. 

 Crustacea are found in various situations. Some are to be met with in the 

 nets of the fisherman; some, as the sea crabs, may be caught by a line, baited 

 with a muscle ; others are found running about the sides of tanks, rivers, 

 and shores of the sea ; and others again, the parasitic Crustacea, in various 

 situations about the bodies of animals, especially on the gills of fish, or 

 fixed on their bodies. 



* Good copal varnish for this purpose is made by digesting powdered gum copal, 

 without beat, for 48 hours, in spirit of turpentine : pouring off the clear turpentine, 

 and allowing the varnish so made to evaporate in the sun to the proper consistence. 

 By repeated digestions with turpentine, the whole of the copal may be dissolved, if 

 pure ; and the dissolution may be assisted by adding a little camphor to the turpen- 

 tine, before pouriug it upon the gum. 



