PRESERVATION OF FISHES. 69 



SO often seen in these creatures when fresh^ can be 

 preserved. Hence it is that so few collectors possess 

 them ; for as there is nothing pleasing to the eye in the 

 discoloured body of a fish immersed in spirits, they 

 will only be preserved as objects of curiosity, or for 

 purely scientific purposes. There are two processes by 

 which this object may be accomplished : the one, by 

 drying the specimen; the other, by immersing it in 

 alcohol. 



(64.) Large fish, having tough skins, as the sharks, 

 and others covered with bony plates or spines, like the 

 cheloniform genera, are best preserved in a dry state. 

 For this purpose, the most simple method is to make a 

 longitudinal cut from the throat to the vent, suflSciently 

 long to admit the whole of the flesh and bones to be 

 removed ; or, when practicable, to allow the fish to be 

 skinned, leaving the bones of the head entire : the in- 

 side surface may then be anointed with the arsenical 

 soap ; and after being filled with sand to its natural 

 dimensions, and gradually dried, the skin retains its 

 form : a portion of the sand may then be rem.oved, to 

 render the specimen lighter, and the cavity filled with 

 cotton. The incision, of course, must be sewed up in 

 the first instance ; but if the specimen is re-opened to 

 substitute any softer material for sand, it can be again 

 sewed up, as the original holes remain. The cheloni- 

 form fishes, being small, will not require skinning; and 

 their mailed plates being hard and compact, the form, 

 will be retained even without any stuffing. 



(65.^ The most useful, as well as the most simple, 

 method, however, is to preserve all such fish as are of 

 a moderate size, in spirits. Wide-mouthed bottles with 

 ground glass stoppers, such as are seen in apothecaries' 

 shops, are the best vessels for this purpose : but when 

 these cannot be procured, old pickle bottles, of green 

 glass, will do very well : these can generally be pro- 

 cured abroad and at home ; and, if well corked, and the 

 top afterwards covered with bladder^ they will travel, 

 with ordinary care^ over the world. The great object 



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