40 
THE PRESERVATION OF SEA FISH 
specimens is about twenty-four hours, larger organs requiring 
from two to eight days, the length of time during which the 
preparation should be exposed to the action of the alcohol 
varies from one to six hours. At no time during the steps of 
the process is the specimen washed in water. Both the Forma- 
line salt-fixing solution and the alcohol may be used repeatedly. 
4 2. Jores 1 
(A) Fixing solution : Sodium chloride 
Magnesium sulphate 
Sodium sulphate . 
Aqua dest. .... 
(B) Alcohol. 
1-0 
2*0 
2-0 
5 to 10 parts 
(C) Preserving fluid, Glycerine and water (equal parts).’ 
It will be seen from the above that this process was primarily 
designed and intended for the fixation of the original colours 
of such delicate substances as tissues, membranes, and com- 
paratively thin sections of the organs of animals, and for such 
it seems to be eminently successful ; but when we come to employ 
it for the treatment of such large masses as a five-pound fish, 
the question of handling becomes somewhat altered. 
For the collection and preservation of fishes in any con- 
siderable numbers, three or five gallon tanks and one large 
tank up to forty gallons capacity should be utilised. 
When a large quantity of sea fish are placed in one tank 
the formalin soda solution will become greasy, opaque, 
greenish in colour, and a very considerable amount of debris 
remains in suspension. If the specimens are allowed to remain 
undisturbed for a week or ten days in such a solution, many of 
them will become discoloured permanently ; while in others 
(especially the more scaleless fishes) the skin becomes impreg- 
nated with minute green particles. These particles are deposited 
on the fish on placing a newly collected specimen into an old 
solution, the action of the formalin hardens up the skin en- 
closing the green particles, and so far I have been unable to 
dislodge those particles without serious injury to the specimen. 
Freshly caught fish must be placed in new or fairly newly 
1 Ibidem, Bd. VII, 1896, S. 134. 
