FIXING AND PRESERVATIVE MEDIUMS 47 



forceps or the fingers a little below the tentacles, lifted out of 

 the sea-water, and the anterior portion plunged immediately 

 into concentrated acetic acid contained in a deepish vessel. 

 At the same time another person should inject with a syringe 

 and cannula, by way of the anal aperture, alcohol of 90 per 

 cent., this being done without the exertion of too much force, 

 lest the body of the animal be unduly distended. After 

 death the anal aperture is closed with a plug of cork or 

 wadding, and the animal is immersed in alcohol of 70 per cent. 

 The injection should be repeated at all subsequent renewals of 

 alcohol (Lo Bianco, p. 4 59). 



32. — Lactic Acid Solution 



Lactic acid ..... i part 



Sea-water . . . 999 parts 



This, says Lo Bianco (p. 442), is used to fix larvae and small 

 gelatinous organisms. 



Carbolic Acid. — This is, especially in hot countries, indispens- 

 able to the taxidermist. Calvert was the chief, if not the only, 

 maker of the pure preparation, which is sold in half-pound or 

 one-pound bottles, in a solid crystalline state as if it were frozen. 

 It should be of an ice-like whiteness, but is often pink, and in 

 that state is said to be just as efficacious. When wanted for 

 use, it must be dissolved by placing the bottle, without the 

 stopper, in boiling water, and, a sufficient quantity being 

 melted out, it must be diluted by the addition of many times 

 its own weight of water. This preparation is of the greatest 

 possible value in hot weather, for washing the fly-blown 

 throats, etc., of birds or mammals required for taxidermic 

 purposes. 



A preparation of extreme strength and efficacy, for pickling 

 the tongues or painting the noses of animals before or after 

 skinning, is made by pouring diluted acid upon burnt alum or 



