410 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISPI COMMISSION. 
in the tub strainer has been washed. The water and sediment thus collected in the 
small tubs and pans are then agitated and strained as before until the residue, com- 
posed of minute animal forms, free from mud, is jilaced on a 40-mesh sieve, and the 
latter set an inch or more above the mesh into a dish of weak alcohol, partially 
floating the specimens, where it is allowed to remain half an hour, then transferred to 
a stronger solution for an hour, when the mass may be i>laced in bottles or jars with 
80 ijer cent alcohol. The receptacles should be kept at hand for a day or two and 
occasionally turned over to loosen the mass and insure its being properly cured, after 
which it may be packed away with safety. 
Jars or bottles should not be more than one-third filled with material of this 
character, which may be said to include shrimp, all kinds of minute Crustacea, worms, 
and, in fact, all forms, surface and deep-sea, that are liable to mat down in the jar. 
Striking objects or very delicate forms should be put separately into vials. 
Foraminifera, m'iij be preserved by drying or in alcohol; in the latter case place 
it in jars with 95 per cent alcohol, turning it over occasionally for a day or two. The 
jar should not be more than half full of material. If to l)e dried, place in weak 
alcohol for a few hours, stirring the mass frequently, then spread it in pans or trays 
to dry. 
Surface and intermediate collecting, including apparatus and methods, have been 
described on ]>age 300 to the point where the specimens are removed from the nets to 
buckets or pans of water. The latter is then strained througii a sieve of 40 mesh, 
which, with the specimens retained on it, is placed in a dish containing a saturated 
solution of picric acid for half an hour, when the larger and more striking specimens 
may be picked out and the remainder placed in bottles or jars containing SO xjer cent 
alcohol. 
FORMALIN. 
This liquid has recently been introduced as a preservative, and although it has 
not been in use long enough to thoroughly establish its value and limitations, it has 
already jiroved itself a useful adjunct and bids fair to rival alcohol for many juirposes. 
It is cheai)cr than alcohol, is not inflammable or exiilosive, and is xmt nj) in 1-iiound 
(about 1 iiint) bottles of convenient form for transportation, a coujile of bottles callable 
of making from 2 to 10 gallons of ju’eservative being easily carried in a hand bag. 
Its great value for tieldwork is already acknowledged, and it is generally conceded 
l)y collectors that it is unexcelled as a medium for preserving soft-bodied forms. 
Mr. James E. Benedict, of tlie Smithsonian Institution, has siiecimens of fish in a 
good state of preservation, both in texture and color, that were cured more than a 
year ago in a solution of 1 iiart of formalin to 40 jiarts of water. 
Prof. B. W. Evermann, of the United States Fish Commission, has fish and other 
forms that have been jireserved a year and a half in 3 jiarts of formalin to 40 parts of 
water, all in excellent condition. 
Should there be a doubt as to the continued safety of forinalin specimens cured 
in the field, alcohol may be added to the solution after they reach the laboratory, or 
they may be transferred to alcohol, the two x)reservatives seemingly working together 
to their mutual advantage. Formulin does not freeze, although the solution used as a 
preservative will; freezing may, however, be avoided by adding a sufficient quantity 
of alcohol. 
