LORQUINIA 
75 
or two, or in fresh water for a longer period, my own results having 
been much better by the former method, after which the animals may 
be passed through two or three changes of alcohol in ascending con- 
centrations, remaining in each for perhaps a period of ten or twelve 
hours, until they are brought into a solution of 70-75%, which is 
sufficient for their permanent preservation. More concentrated solu- 
tions of alcohol only serve to harden and warp the tissues and should 
be avoided. After the specimens are in the 70% alcohol they may be 
untied and will thereafter retain their natural outlines if allowed lo 
lie free in the preserving medium. 
In my experience formalin solution is an exceedingly poor me- 
dium for the preservation of chitons. Do not use it. If nothing else 
is available, however, no pains should be spared to transfer the speci- 
men to 70% alcohol at the earliest opportunity. Methyl (wood) alco- 
hol likewise is not to be recommended as anything but a makeshift, 
and even denatured ethyl alcohol is much less satisfactory than the 
pure article. 
If the specimens are desired for histological work, more careful 
methods of fixation and hardening should be undertaken, though 
even here I have sometimes had surprisingly good results with the 
rough method I have outlined. Ryder, in Ball's well-known pam- 
phlet of "Instructions for Collecting Mollusks," p. 43, gives some ex- 
cellent "Directions for preserving the soft parts of MoUusca,'' and to 
these I would refer the interested reader. 
If it be desired to preserve the specimens in the dry state, the 
animals may be killed either in weak alcohol or fresh water as already 
suggested, then imbound, the soft parts carefully cut away with a 
sharp knife, and the "shell" {i. c, the valves and girdle) firmly retied 
in a flat position until the girdle has thoroughly dried, and there is 
therefore no further risk of the specimen curling. Specimens dried 
on glass adhere so strongly to the smooth surface that the mantle 
does not usually contract against the valves as in most specimens one 
sees and results in exceptionally beautiful examples. 
Nevertheless, the desirability of preserving a large proportion (if 
not the whole) of a given catch in alcohol cannot be too strongly 
emphasized ! By so doing the collector will certainly find his labor 
to count for far more in a scientific way. Many important characters 
of chitons are greatly obscured and sometimes lost entirely through 
being subjected to the process of drying. This is in some cases true 
of even such important matters as family characters, and many a 
priceless specimen has lost more than half its value because of the 
collector's neglect of this fact. There is no doubt that the lack of 
material suitably preserved in alcohol has, more than any other single 
circumstance, delayed our understanding of this curious and difficult 
group of rnoUusks. 
