middle of the back-bone with a very flexible stick, taking 
care not to spoil the skin. 
Fish may be caught with fishing rods or nets, in the sea, 
rivers, lakes, etc., and put immediately in a bottle filled 
with alcohol, especially if you are in a hot country, and far 
from your residence. 
When you get back in your house, you will take them 
out from the bottles, and clean them with a wet linen cloth; 
then make an incision (1) in the belly of the animal and you 
will put them in a large bottle containing alcohol or any 
other strong spirit. 
Leave them in that bottle for a fortnight, then take them 
out, and clean them a second time. After which you will 
wrap each specimen separately with a linen cloth, flax, or 
any other soft substance, and pack them in a tin box; 
which must be well filled with flax to avoid all kind of 
friction among them during the voyage. 
Then, you will pour some of the strongest alcohol or 
- 
spirit you can get, enough to soah them with it. The box 
to be then soldered down. 
(i) The object of this incision is to allow the penetration of the 
alcohol in the intestines. 
