116 THE AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST, 
for a little while, and when “ fatally dead”’ the shells may be 
remoyed from the sticks and replaced in the spirit. They 
will not curl up again. 
The best localities to search in for Chitons are the sheltered 
rocky corners of ocean bays, low-lying reefs with scattered 
boulders, and the deep rockpools containing loose stones. 
Land-locked bays, muddy inlets, and river mouths are not 
favourable localities. 
PRESERVATION OF MARINE ANIMALS WITH 
THEIR NATURAL COLOURS. 
As so many members of the Club pursue the study of our 
native marine fauna, the following abstract from a paper by 
H.C. Sorby, LU.D., F.R.S. (Museums Journal, January, 1908), 
may prove not only of much interest, but useful :— 
Since if seems to me that it would be such a great advan- 
tage to be able to exhibit brightly coloured animals in all their 
natural beauty, and not more or less bleached, I devoted many 
years to experiments when living on my yacht, and so was able 
to obtain fresh material. \ Not being able to do this now, it may 
be useful to describe the general conclusions to which I have 
been led, and those cases in which I have been more or less 
successful. [I may say that I have been able to preserve a 
number of our most highly-coloured animals for years without 
any apparent change. 
Numerous experiments showed that the liquid in which the 
animals are kept must fulfil the following conditions: —It must 
not be too dear, must be colourless, antiseptic, and not dissolve 
the pigment or the oxygen of the atmosphere, and strong light 
must be excluded. 
Considering now certain colourless, antiseptic liquids, I may 
say that in the case of many highly-coloured animals, the pig- 
ment is so rapidly dissolved by alcohol that in a few days they 
are almost colourless. Though diluted formalin may not dis- 
solve the pigment, it may soon cause it to fade, owing either to 
its own action or to that of dissolved oxygen. Paraffin oil, such 
as is used in lamps, seemed to promise well, but the colour of 
the animals was soon lost. The only liquids which so far have 
been satisfactory are very strong glycerine and syrup. Against 
the former I have met with great prejudice, which is easily ex- 
plained by the presence of water. Some years ago what was 
sold was probably far from being anhydrous, and the animals 
may have been put in in their natural condition, in which case 
the water they contained would have been quite sufficient to 
dilute the glycerine and so make it useless, since it does not 
require much to cause decay. On the contrary, if all the water 
be quickly removed and the animal finally put up in almost 
anhydrous glycerine, it may keep perfectly well, with its natural 
