22 



NATURAL SCIENCE NEWS. 



I would rather take it as an evi- 

 dence of decrepitude or the "re- 

 moval of the unfittest," as Crows 

 wintering in the Northern States 

 experience much lower tempera- 

 tures and have remarkably good 

 eyesight as many "would be" col- 

 lectors can testify. 



The Juncos, Song Sparrow, and 

 Cardinals, also suffered severely. 

 In tramping the woods, I picked 

 up a specimen of our only warbler 

 of the winter months, the Yellow 

 Rump or Myrtle, lying frozen stiff | 

 in my tracks of two days previous. 

 Many of the smaller birds fell easy 

 victims to the birds of prey, the 

 mink and weasel while benumbed 

 with cold. I saw in many instances 

 the bright feathers of the Cardinal 

 and at least one Blue Jay seemed 

 to have gone to satisfy a hungry 

 Hawk. One of our winter visitors 

 the Shirke also took a hand in the 

 wholesale destruction. The quan- 

 tities of Quail, Wild Turkeys and 

 Grey Rabbits exposed in the mar- 

 kets have shown man's share in the 

 tragedy. 



The legal season on these varie- 

 ties of game had expired before the 

 heavy snows which made their tak- 

 ing an easy matter, and the enforce- 

 ment of the game laws would have 

 resulted in much good. A pair of 

 wild ducks, (species unknown) 

 evidently frozen out of the streams 

 flew around and ventured into a 

 neighbors poultry yard for several 

 hours. Among the furred creatur- 

 es the Mink was most active, im- 

 pelled by his always excellent ap- 

 petite he wandered for miles in 

 driving storms, tunneling the drifts, 

 roaming through marshes and trav- 

 elling both over and under the froz- 

 en surface of the streams. Woe 

 betide the unlucky rabbit, bird, or 

 fish he met. 



Grey, Red and Flying Squirrels 

 ventured out in search of a meal 

 nearly every day. One stub ex- 

 cavated by Flickers yielded the 

 writer a pair of Flying Squirrels 

 and one Grey. 



Many of the Grey's here winter 

 in nests of cedar bark made in the 

 •tops of evergreens. 



A few blows on the tree trunk 

 sends the half dazed inmates out 

 to fall at the shot of the hunter. 



The writer must confess to butch- 

 ering a family of three at one dis- 

 charge, in one of these nests sev- 

 eral years ago. 



The Raccoons showed their great 

 sense by sleeping through such in- 

 clement weather. 



Two Opossums which had ven- 

 tured out were captured, one track- 

 ed to his hole and dug out, and 



the other caught running itself in 

 the top of a dogwood sapling. 

 Foxes of course enjoy win- 

 try weather and suffer little from 

 either dogs or men while deep 

 snows last. 



The Muskrats ventured out but 

 little perhaps gathering a few grass 

 roots or coming out at an air-hole 

 to devour a meal of mussels which 

 they "shuck" as expertly as an 

 oyster-opener. 



These wild creatures seem little 

 disturbed by civilization and settle- 

 ment, building their mud huts an- 

 nually within gunshot of the Ben- 

 ning Road where it crosses the 

 Anacostia. 



This road ranks second in 

 anount of travel of any entering the 

 National Capitol. 



Albert B. Farnham, 



Benning, D. C. 



Alcoholic and Other Fluid Pre- 

 servation for Museum Pur- 

 poses. 



The fluid preservation of Natur- 

 al History specimens for Museum 

 purposes, differs slightly from that 

 of specimens designed for Mic- 

 roscopic purposes. The chief 

 aims are, ist to preserve the nat- 

 ural shape and size, and 2nd to 

 preserve the natural colors, trans- 

 parency, etc. — 



The most common preservative 

 is alcohol: which has several faults 

 and several features which offset 

 these faults- Alcohol causes 

 shrinkage and consequent distor- 

 tion, but this may be partially ob- 

 viated by careful methods. It 

 bleeches a great many colors. It 

 is costlv- But it never freezes; it 

 hardens objects so they are not 

 afterward deformed by pressure, 

 etc. It preserves histological 

 structure fairly well. 



To preserve a small Vertebrate 

 in alcohol, it is necessary ist to re- 

 move any slime or mucous present, 

 2nd, to inject strong alcohol into 

 the alimentary canal through the 

 mouth and vent, 3rd, to make in- 

 cisions so as to permit the preser- 

 vative to enter the thoracic and ab- 

 dominal cavities. 



Slime and mucous may be easily 

 removed with a cloth wet with 

 alum water, i. e. saturated 

 aqueous solution of potash alum. 



After the foregoing preliminaries 

 are finished the specimen should 

 be placed in about 35-40 per cent, 

 alcohol for from two hours to not 

 more than 2 days, and then trans- 

 fered to about 80 per cent alcohol 



in which it is to be kept. If the 

 specimen is delicate it may be well 

 to transfer it from 40 to 60 per 

 cent alcohol for a few hours and 

 then placed in 80 per cent for per- 

 manent preservation. This will 

 prevent shrinkage in most ob- 

 jects. 



The amount of alcohol used in 

 each process should be, at least, 

 3 to 5 times the bulk of the 

 object; and the specimen should 

 not take up more than a third 

 of the final receptacle. If, after a 

 time, the alcohol becomes discolor- 

 ed it is a sign of the alcohol be- 

 coming weakened, and it should be 

 replaced by fresh. 



If jars with a rubber seal are us- 

 ed, the top of the jar and the rub- 

 ber should both be wiped dry and an- 

 ointed with vaseline before sealing. 



If the jar is tightly sealed the 

 vaseline prevents evaporation. 

 Corks for bottles should be vase- 

 lined. 



Some persons advocate the addi- 

 tion of 5 per cent Hydrochoric acid 

 to the first alcohol. This partially 

 prevents shrinkage, and the glue- 

 ing together of the viscera, but it 

 is injurious to colors and is usually 

 not necessary. 



A preservative is now coming into 

 use which is much praised by those 

 who have used it. It is a 40 per 

 cent solution of Formic Aldehyde 

 and is sold under the name of For- 

 malin. 



This may be used in any strength of 

 aqueous solution from 5 to 100 per 

 cent. It preserves the natural 

 color and transparency of most 

 specimens; hardens them and does 

 not cause shrinkage. It has one 

 fault, its solutions freeze; but for 

 that matter most collections are 

 kept in warm buildings. 



The use of formalin for harden- 

 ing specimens for microscopic work 

 is alternately praised and condemn- 

 ed. It is deserving of a further trial 

 in that line. Objects to be hardened 

 in formalin must undergo the same 

 preliminary treatment as for al- 

 cohol. The fluid should be chang- 

 ed once, at least, between the first 

 and second day, 



In preserving in any medium the 

 specimen should be kept near the 

 top of the fluid, either by a bed of 

 cotton or excelsior or suspended by 

 a string. 



Formalin may be bought of any 

 wholesale drug firm at about $1.50 

 per lb. 



The larger Crustacea, Mollusca, 

 etc., may be preserved as are Ver- 

 tebrates. 



The smaller Crustacea, Vermes, 



