72 
Mi&ttllmua* 
ON PRESERVING SPECIMENS OF FISH, &c. FOR 
EXPORTATION. 
[Communicated from Dr. Richardson.] 
There are many animals, particularly fisli, in Tasmania 
which I should like to describe, if you will give me an 
opportunity. You have only to wrap each fish, as it is caught, 
in cotton or tow, and throw it into a store-cask full of spirits,— 
which I suppose are cheap enough with you, as you pay no 
duty. As soon as you have a sufficient number, they may be 
packed in a small cask, the interstices being filled with tow, 
to prevent their being injured by shaking ; the head of the 
cask is then to be put in, and spirits poured in at the 
bung-hole; care being taken to disengage the air by a few 
strokes of a hammer on the bilge of the cask before the bung 
is put in. No specimens should be put into the small cask to 
be sent home which have not laid several days in the store-tub. 
I am particularly desirous of seeing the fresh-water fish of 
Australia; and. several specimens should be sent of each kind, 
particularly of the smaller ones. Each individual should be 
wrapped in cotton, and they may be numbered on paper labels 
with common ink, placed in the cotton ; the writing would not 
be defaced by the spirit. Specimens from New Zealand would 
be very acceptable. 
The great facilities which the Navy of England affords for 
making collections of Natural History in all quarters of the 
world ought long ere this to have rendered our Museums su¬ 
perior to those ^ of any other country; but it is not without 
reason that foreign philosophers express their surprise at the 
meagreness of our collections (particularly of fish\ as con¬ 
trasted with the efforts of the French Marine displayed in the 
magnificent accumulation of natural objects at the Jar din des 
Plantes; many of their rarest and most prized specimens 
having been procured on the coasts or in the very harbours of 
the English Colonies. The object of this short paper is to 
point out an easy and inexpensive method of removing the 
opprobrium under which we lie. 
Government has, at considerable expense, founded a Museum 
at liaslar Hospital, which might speedily be rendered a most 
valuable collection of Comparative Anatomy, and a fit 
place of study for Naval Officers desirous of becoming 
acquainted with some of the branches of Natural History,— 
provided. Officers m foreign stations would embrace every 
opportunity 01 sending to it specimens prepared in the under¬ 
mentioned manner. The Officers of the Army have already 
enriched the Museum at Fort Pitt by their contributions, and 
2ts fame is daily augmenting. 
