
4 LAND AND FRESH-WATER SHELLS. 415 
tent, when prepared for the cabinet simply by drying the soft 
_ parts, can never be made to have that brilliancy that is seen 
ina carefully cleaned specimen. By the side of well-cleaned 
Specimens they are so inferior in their appearance, that 
when the collector has once had an opportunity to compare 
them, he will never be content with indifferently cleaned 
specimens. Physa hypnorum is a species to which these 
remarks will apply. It is, however, a very difficult species 
toclean perfectly on account of the persistence with which 
the soft parts adhere within the apical whorls. But by an 
adroit expedient this difficulty may be overcome. After the 
shells have been boiled a few moments, take each specimen 
up singly, and hold the apex a few seconds against the blaze 
ofa lamp or candle. Soon a small quantity of steam forms 
With a slight explosion that loosens the soft parts perfectly. 
A jet of water from a syringe will then remove the soft 
Parts and rinse the shell at one operation. Physa hypnorum 
may be kept in alcohol several months until partial decom- 
position has begun. Then with a powerful jet of water from 
a avery small syringe, the soft parts may be instantly and 
_ Wholly removed. The same modes of treatment may also 
: be applied to other species. Shells kept long in alcohol, 
E Me¥ever, ure liable to become stained. Lymnea gracilis 
Permits the soft parts to be removed with the utmost ease 
. and certainty by boiling or by the alcoholic treatment. An- 
_— tylus is very easily prepared after having been in alcohol. 
most of the specimens treated with alcohol will be 
; found with the soft parts detached after a few days. 
: Uniones (fresh-water mussels) require to be cut open with 
T T knife to divide the muscles, after which the soft parts 
should be carefully removed, leaving no traces of them to 
Stain the shell. An easier and more expeditious mode is to 
boil them, when the muscular attachments are destroyed, 
tnd the soft parts are ready to drop out. After the soft 
Parts are removed the shells need to be rinsed clean, and 
“ore the hinge-ligament gets dry the valves should be tied 



