1837.] 



and Preserving Animals. 



Memoranda should be made of the localities from which specimens 

 have been obtained ; whether at sea or on land ; the period of the 

 year when taken, as mater?al to determine the breeding season, &c; 

 the vernacular names, and the meaning thereof, if any, in the language 

 of the country. If there be no name for a specimen, a number should 

 be attached to it, corresponding with that of the description or memo- 

 randum respecting it. A wooden tally or label should be attached to 

 each specimen, where several are put into the same bottle ; as tal- 

 lies of sheet lead, parchment, leather, &c. are liable to be defaced or 

 obliterated. 



Such tallies are preferable also for dried specimens, as those written 

 with ink are liable to be defaced by moisture or insects during the 

 voyage. 



The bottles being numbered, little trouble will be required to keep an 

 account of their contents, which will add greatly to their value. If this 

 be neglected, much confusion and uncertainty may ensue. 



A description should be taken of form, colour, &c. while the animal 

 is alive, or immediately after death, before it be put into spirit ; which 

 frequently produces a collapse or contraction of pavts, and changes or 

 destroys the colours, particularly those which are delicate or evanescent. 



Of Quadrupeds. — The head should be preserved on account of the 

 teeth ; but if too large for a cask or bottle, that part in which the teeth 

 are placed may be cut ofT; but this will seldom be necessary. 



The feet and tail may be kept attached to the skin and dried; or if the 

 skin is not preserved, the feet and tail only, either dried or in spirit. 



The oesophagus and stomach should be preserved in spirit, with a 

 portion of the duodenum, and the caecum, if any, with a small portion of 

 the ileum and colon. If the animal be not too large, it will be prefera- 

 ble to cut off from the mesentery the jejunum and ileum, which (after 

 their length and circumference, and the nature of their contents have 

 been ascertained), may be thrown away, and then to strip down from 

 the spine the contents of the abdomen, beginning at the diaphragm, so 

 as to have the liver, stomach, spleen, pancreas, colon, &c, all with their 

 attachments, taken out together as low as the rectum, where it lies in 

 the pelvis, and, after being cleansed and the contents examined, put into 

 spirits. 



The heart and lungs may be preserved together, or, if too large, the 

 heart alone with the large blood vessels. 



The contents of the pelvis, viz., the bladder and rectum, with the in- 

 ternal parts of generation both male and female; also the external 

 parts not separated from the internal, with a large portion of the sur- 



