24 
J. HOPKINSOX—EEMAEKS 
they sometimes rasp the epidermis off each other’s shells. Helix 
aspersa is a great offender in this way, and I have also fonnd it 
very active in rasping the inner surface of its box when of card¬ 
board, which all species will do to some extent. After having 
been shut up for some time the testaceous Mollusca will close the 
mouth of their shell by an epiphragm or attach themselves to the 
inner surface of their box, remaining in this state without food 
for an indefinite period; in fact they have been known to live 
for many years fastened to a tablet in a cabinet of shells. 
The Mollusca collected in a day’s excursion or a few hours’ 
ramble may be sent off to the recorder of the Mollusca by post the 
same evening alive, a little moss or a few leaves in each box 
containing them being all the packing necessary. A few of the 
smaller species may be sent in a pill-box enclosed in a letter, but 
when there are many it is best to send them in several small boxes 
enclosed in a larger one which should be wrapped in dark-colourecl 
paper and have a luggage-label attached with the address and 
stamp on, so that the box may not itself be stamped in the post 
and possibly smashed in the process. If not sent off at once, the 
animals should be killed, after any desired examination has been 
made, and their shells kept for the cabinet or sent by post for 
determination in the same way as with the living specimens. To 
kill them they should be placed for a short time in a small quantity 
of cold or lukewarm water, which will induce them to come partly 
out of their shells, and then boiling water should be suddenly 
added. It is not a pleasant thing to have to kill any living 
creature, but when it has to be done as little pain as possible should 
be inflicted. Therefore the water should be quite boiling, as this 
only will insure an instant and painless death. Another method of 
killing them is to place them in methylated spirit, but they must 
not be left long in it or the epidermis of the shells will be dis¬ 
coloured and perhaps destroyed. It is impossible to take a mollusk 
out of its shell alive, for there is a muscular attachment between 
the animal and its shell—between the organised tissues and the 
exo-skeleton—which is only severed by death. "When dead most 
species can be easily pulled out of their shell with a bent pin; some 
can only be partially removed; and a few are so minute and in 
such a fragile shell that their extraction cannot be attempted with 
safety. Immersion in methylated spirits for a few minutes is said 
to give increased consistency to their gelatinous bodies, and thus to 
render them easier of extraction, but I have not tried this. Slugs 
may be preserved in spirits-of-wine (or methylated spirits) diluted 
with about one-fifth its bulk of water. The internal shell of the 
Limacidae may be obtained by making an incision in the mantle and 
cutting out the shell. 
It is scarcely necessary to give any directions as to arranging 
shells, in the cabinet. They may be mounted on tablets, with 
several specimens of each species in different positions, so that any 
part may be examined; or they may be kept in pill-boxes or 
glass-topped boxes, the smaller species at least being placed on 
