82 PRACTICAL TAXIDERMY. 



or even methylated, for large fisli, and therefore tried many 

 things with varying results. At last I was driven back on 

 MoUer's Solution, and by its aid saved some specimens which 

 were slowly rotting in other fluids, and successfully "pickled" 

 such flabby things as sharks' eggs, sea anemones, and large- 

 sized " lump fish." It was then tried on common " dog-fish," 

 one of which came out limp, yet perfectly tough, and was 

 skinned as an experiment after a month's immersion. One 

 day two large " topers " (a small species of shark), about six feet 

 long, were sent from Scarboro'. My taxidermist being very busy 

 at the time, I decided to give Moller a severe test and pickle 

 them. Accordingly — their viscera only being removed — they 

 were tumbled into a large tub containing 21b. of bichromate 

 of potassa to 20galls. of spring water. This was on 13th Sept., 

 1882; I looked at them on 17th July, 1883, and they were 

 perfectly fresh, quite limp, unslirivelled, and yet so tough as to 

 be capable of any treatment, even to being cast as models, or 

 "set up" by the taxidermic art; and this after the lapse of 

 ten calendar months — a time more than sufficient for even a 

 sailing vessel to come from any part of the world. I changed the 

 solution once, the total cost from first to last being one shilling 

 and fourpence. Had pure spirit been used, the expense would 

 have been many pounds, to say nothing of the great shrivelling 

 which would have taken place by now. I must therefore think 

 that Holler's Solution is, for the purpose, one of the best things 

 ever invented. 



Preservative Fluids for Mollusca. 



Generally speaking, pure alcohol is the best for this pur- 

 pose. Chloride of zinc would doubtless be of considerable 

 service, and I notice that Woodward, in his " Manual of the 

 Mollusca," says that chloride of calcium, made by dissolving 

 chalk, or the purer carbonate — white marble, — in hydro-chloric 

 acid until effervescence ceases and a saturated solution is 

 obtained, is most useful as a preservative, as it "keeps the 

 specimen previously steeped in it permanently moist without 

 injuring its colour or texture; while its antiseptic properties 

 will aid in the preservation of matters liable to decay." 



