44 
INSTRUCTIONS FOR COLLECTING 
tightly in a barrel with a layer of salt at the bottom, all the 
interstices being filled up with salt. The barrel itself must be 
water-tight. Specimens too large for being packed in barrels should 
receive a thorough dressing of salt and alum, after removal of the 
whole of the cranium with all the soft parts adhering to it ; they 
can then be dried and folded into a package of manageable size. 
In the case of all specimens which are preserved dried or salted, 
the various dimensions of the animal must be carefully noted, and a 
sketch of the head should be made, to enable the taxidermist to 
mount the specimen with its proper proportions. 
None of the marine fishes are more interesting than those which 
live habitually in the open sea and only rarely approach the coasts 
(pelagic fishes), and those which are adapted to living at great depths 
and never come to the surface (deep-sea fishes). The latter can only 
be obtained with the aid of a ship specially fitted out for exploring 
the fauna of the deep sea. Collectors who are restricted to their 
own and limited resources can hardly do more than dredge or trawl 
in depths of from 100 to 200 fathoms. However, two other modes 
of collecting deep-sea fishes may be recommended. One of them is 
in actual use by the fishermen of the Portuguese coasts and of 
Madeira, who employ a strong line (long-line, spiller, trot), some- 
times as much as 800 fathoms long, with a weight at one end, 
and supporting-hooks of various sizes on thinner short lines (snoods), 
which are fastened to the main line at regular distances of 1 or 
2 fathoms ; in fact, a long line such as is used in cod-fishing. The 
second method would be to sink baskets constructed of withes or 
galvanized zinc, like lobster-pots,* and to examine them after twelve 
or twenty-four hours. 
The majority of deep-sea fishes are so fragile that their preservation 
requires special care ; they should be wrapped in linen, and kept 
singly, or only a few specimens together, in a separate jar. A long 
cut should be made in the abdominal cavity, and strong spirits of 
wine (from 20° to 30° above proof) should be used to ensure the 
preservation of the internal organs. 
* These baskets are dome-shaped with flat bottoms, of from 2 to 3 feet in 
diameter, and with an opening 6 inches in diameter sloping inwards from the 
top. The bait is fixed opposite to, and somewhat sideways of, the opening. 
