GENERAL INTEODUCTION TO THE ZOOLOGICAL REPORTS. 23 



cost of £70. We had also from Messrs Powell & Sons, Whitefriars Glass Works, several 

 thousand wide-mouthed bottles, and tubes of various smaller sizes. The cases of empty 

 bottles were taken from the racks and replaced by full ones as we proceeded. Whenever 

 we had an opportunity, as, for example, when we reached one of our own dockyards, we 

 sent home an instalment of full cases to the Admiralty, where they were received by the 

 Hydrographer, and sent on to Edinburgh. They there passed into the custody of 

 Professor Turner, F.R.S., who most kindly overhauled them, and saw that they were in 

 good order, and the spirit sufficient, and stored them in a spare gallery in the University. 



A large amount of material had been sent home from Bermuda, from Halifax, from 

 the Cape of Good Hope, from Sydney, from Hong-Kong, and from Japan ; and after the 

 contents of the ship had been finally cleared out at Sheerness, we found, on mustering our 

 stores, that they consisted of 563 cases, containing 2270 large glass jars with specimens 

 in spirit of wine, 1749 smaller stoppered bottles, 1860 glass tubes, and 176 tin cases, all 

 with specimens in spirit; 180 tin cases with dried specimens ; and 22 casks with speci- 

 mens in brine. 



A book, which we called the " Station-book," was kept in the work-room, and when- 

 ever the ship stopped to dredge, or trawl, or make any special observation in any of our 

 departments, a special sheet, to which a number was attached, was dedicated to the 

 occasion, and every detail of date, position, depth, temperature, and nature of the bottom, 

 was carefully entered as a heading, for which the form was printed at the top of the first 

 page of each sheet. Then followed any details, and a rough list, zoologically arranged, 

 of the animals procured. 



The jars containing the animals from each station were labelled outside with the 

 particulars of the station, and especially with its number; and to prevent any possible 

 confusion, a slip of parchment, with the number written upon it with a dark pencU, was 

 also dropped into each jar or tin. The duty of filling the station-books and carrying out 

 these daily details devolved mainly upon Mr Moseley and Dr von Willemoes-Suhm, and 

 I need scarcely say that the possibility of preparing such a report as we are now issuing 

 is due to a great degree to the thorough efficiency with which this duty was performed. 



The final packing of such delicate and brittle stores for their voyage home was a 

 matter requiring much care and skill ; it was done, in almost every case, under the direct 

 superintendence of Mr Murray, who saw to the final labelling, and kept the reference 

 books ; and I may add that, of upwards of 5000 bottles and jars of different sizes sent 

 from all parts of the world to be stored in Edinburgh, only about four were broken, and 

 no specimens were lost from the spirit giving way. 



Some other fluid media, such as glycerine and solutions of picric and chromic acids 

 were employed occasionally for preserving specimens, but we never found that they were to 

 be depended upon ; and later experience has shown that objects preserved in any of these 

 are not nearly so suitable for dissection and microscopic examination as when they are 



