136 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
Anthozoa. — The first care must be to place the forms belonging to 
this group in fresh salt water, to allow them to expand, a result which 
may not be obtained until the following day in some cases. Alcyona- 
rians should be killed with chrom-acetic solution No. 2, withdrawing the 
water in which they lie, until there is left just enough to cover them, 
and then adding a volume of the chrom-acetic solution double that of 
the sea-water. The animals should be removed from this mixture the 
moment they are killed, since the acid will quickly attack the calcareous 
spicules, which are important for the identification of the Alcyonaria, 
and placed in 35 per cent, or 50 per cent, alcohol, it being well to inject 
the alcohol into the mouths of the polyps to keep them freely expanded. 
The preparation should finally be preserved in 70 per cent, alcohol. 
Regarding the Actinians no definite rule for preservation can be given. 
Much of the success of the preparation depends on the form employed, 
some species contracting much less readily and less perfectly than others. 
Some may be killed in a fair condition by pouring over them boiling 
corrosive sublimate, and then, before consigning them to alcohol, treat- 
ing for a few minutes with one-half per cent, chromic acid. This 
method may be employed with small forms such as Aiptasia. Narcoti- 
zation may be tried with others. For this purpose, remove from the 
vessel in which the animals are contained, two-thirds of sea-water, and 
replace it with a 2 per cent, solution of chloral hydrate. After a few 
minutes the fluid is again removed, and cold concentrated sublimate 
solution is poured in. Tobacco smoke in some cases, as with Adamsia, 
will act satisfactorily, if followed with vapour of chloroform for two to 
three hours, after which the animals may be killed in chrom-acetic 
solution No. 2, and hardened in one-half per cent, chromic acid. 
Edicardsia may be narcotized by gradually adding 70 per cent, 
alcohol to the sea-water in which they are, and subsequently may be 
killed with hot corrosive sublimate. 
Cerianihus should be killed with concentrated acetic acid, placing it 
as soon as possible in weak alcohol, in which it should be suspended, so 
that the tentacles may float freely — if necessary, disentangling them. 
Corals should be allowed to expand fully, and should then be killed 
with boiling solution of corrosive sublimate and acetic acid used in 
volume equal to that of sea-water containing the coral. The colony 
should then be transferred to 35 per cent, alcohol, some of this fluid 
being injected into the mouth of each polyp. The injection should be 
repeated at every change of the alcohol, and the specimens should be 
preserved in 70 per cent, alcohol, after washing them well in iodized 
alcohol. 
Hydromedusae. — For the hydroid colonies the best fixing reagent is 
hot corrosive sublimate. The smaller Tubularian medusae should be 
killed either in the mixture of corrosive sublimate and acetic acid, or in 
Kleinenberg’s picrosulphuric acid. Larger forms may be fixed with 
concentrated acetic acid, and then allowed to fall imto a tube containing 
the alcohol and chromic acid mixture, in which they are gently agitated 
and allowed to remain for fifteen minutes, after which they should be 
transferred to 35 per cent, alcohol, and gradually carried to 70 per cent. 
Small Campanularian medusae, e. g. Eucope and Obelia, may be killed 
in the mixture of copper sulphate and corrosive sublimate. jEquorea 
