_ at letter postage (three cents for every half ounce) by putti 
rag that has been soaked in alcohol or glycerine and squeea 
114 ZOOLOGY. 
a box, packing with sawdust if you can get it handy, if not wit 
shavings, hay or grass, and send by the first express to their d 3 
tination, that they may arrive before the spirits get weakened o 
the natural colors of the fish are lost or changed by the alco 
As the Etheostomoids are all small fishes, common ale or ji 
bottles can be used in collecting or packing them up for sené 
away, as the specimens can be readily taken out by breaking 
the neck of the bottle. . 
Common glycerine will answer the purpose of preserving th 
brilliant colors of the fishes, and it would be very desirable 
have a few specimens of each kind put up in it for the purpose 0 
making sure of the natural colors, though from its strong contra 
ing powers specimens so preserved are not so good for genera 
study as those put in alcohol. It would also be very 
able to have a number of specimens, especially if of brilli: 
colors, preserved so as to retain their colors, in the following ' 
Take the specimen as soon as dead and cut off a portion of 
varnish is at hand, simply let the fish dry in the shade. 
simple method the natural colors will be preserved for a long 
By using a little care and putting cotton in the abdominal ¢ 
ity and a little arsenic on the flesh, very handsome and in 
specimens can be made. 
_ It often happens that a person obtains one or two speci 
a fish he would like to forward, but hardly thinks it worth wi 
send so small a lot by express. Such can readily be sent 
specimens in a small tin or wooden box, with a little co 
~ (the specimen also having been first put in alcohol or § 
_ some kind, or glycerine, for an hour or two). A specimen 
; a can be several days on the route without being injured. 
In concluding my request for specimens of fishes of this 
I beg to state that any other specimens would be very 
to our collection, and that any thing sent by express 
to the anani Academy of ~~ Salem, Mass.,* will 
