The YOtfHG NATURALIST : 



A Penny Weekly Magazine of Natural History. 



Na. 99. OCTOBER 1st, 1881. Vol. 2. 



PREPARING SHELLS FOR 

 THE CABINET. 



WE have several times been asked 

 questions on this subject, and 

 promised the last enquirer an article 

 upon it, which is here given. 



Though professional oyster openers 

 find little difficulty in separating the 

 living mollusc from its shell, the ama- 

 tuer will only accomplish this at the risk 

 of considerable damage to both the 

 shell and his own digits. The muscular 

 attachment of bivalves to their shell is 

 extremely powerful, and they cannot be 

 opened alive without injury, while the 

 animals inhabiting univalves retreat to 

 the recesses of their shells when alarmed 

 and then cannot be reached. It is 

 necessary therefore to kill the animals 

 in all cases before it is attempted to 

 remove them, and for bivalves it is only 

 necessary to boil them or throw them 

 into boiling water. 



The integument of the hinge is elastic, 

 and aided by the cartilage, an elastic 

 substance which is compressed when 

 the valves are closed, the shells open 

 so soon as the muscles used for closing 

 them relax their power. This they do 

 when the animal dies, and the shell will 

 generally gape open after being boiled. 



If boiled sufficiently these adductor 

 muscles will even leave the shell, and 

 its inside is then quite clean. It is now 

 necessary to close the valves again, and 

 to do this, after drying thoroughly the 

 inside, take a length of ordinary sewing 

 cotton, wet it, and after wrapping it 

 several times round the shell, tie it, and 

 leave the whole to dry. If you neglect 

 to wet the thread, it will stretch so 

 much that you will find it impossible to 

 get the valves quite close ; but when 

 wet, you not only get them close, but 

 the thread is not so apt to slip in tying, 

 and in drying it contracts a little, and 

 keeps all close and firm until set in 

 position. As for the outside, you must 

 use a considerable amount of discretion 

 in cleaning it. In some species the 

 outside is more or less covered with 

 hairs, and great care must be taken not 

 to remove any of these, or indeed any 

 natural covering, while dirt and all 

 parasitic incrustations are better removed. 



For bivalves, and more particularly 

 for the smaller ones, another process is 

 necessary. Boiling them, or emersing 

 them in hot water no doubt kills them 

 equally well, and loosens them from 

 the shell, but they are so apt to retreat 

 as far as possible into their shell, that 



