268 GENERAL DIRECTIONS. 



net, will be kept from injuring themselves or their 

 neighbours by banging about upon the bottom. 



The more brief the period during which the speci- 

 mens are in transitu the better. Hence they should 

 be always forwarded per mail train, and either be 

 received at the terminus by the owner, or else be direc- 

 ted " To be forwarded immediately by special mes- 

 senger." The additional expense of this precaution is 

 very small, and it may preserve half the collection 

 from death through long confinement. 



The packages should be opened immediately on 

 arrival; several bowls, pans, &c., should be ready, 

 each half-filled with sea-water. The water in the 

 vessels just received should be carefully dipped or 

 poured ofi', and the specimens placed one by one in 

 the bowls. Thus you will not only see which are 

 alive and healthy, and which are sickly or dead, but 

 the weeds, shells, &c., will be rinsed from the sedi- 

 ment, which has been abraded during the rattling of 

 the specimens in travelling. The specimens can 

 afterwards be deposited in the Aquarium, their perma- 

 nent home. 



Should any of the more delicate animals appear, 

 much exhausted, they may often be restored, by a 

 prompt aeration of the water around them. This is 

 most readily efieoted by means of the Syringe, as I 

 shall presently describe. 



GENERAL DIRECTIONS. 



The Aquarium is then established. The water, 

 which at first is somewhat turbid, becomes in the 

 course of a day or two clear and crystalline ; the plants 



