The Mammalia, too large to be put into spirits, should be skinned, and care taken to leave the feet and head (from which the brains must have been removed); or, if that be not possible, we must at least send the jaws. We shall hereafter speak of the methods to be used and the precautions to be taken for preserving skins, and for animals which are put into spirits.

When we can add the skeleton to the skin, it would be a great service to science; this would be a very easy operation for the surgeons of ships, who might feel sufficient interest in zoology.

It is not necessary to mount the skeletons. After having boiled the bones, taken the flesh off, and dried them, we put all those belonging to the same animal in a bag, filling it up with moss, seaweed, shreds of paper, or any other soft and dry substance, that they may not bruise each other. We envelope those in paper, which are very fragile, and take great care not to lose

any.

Those who procure us birds, must take care to proportion the shot to their size, not to injure the skins. When the bird falls, they must wipe the blood away as much as possible, and put a little cotton in the beak, that the blood may not run from it and injure the feathers, particularly those of the head. After the bird is cold, and the blood is coagulated, they must take it by the claws and the

tail to place it in a paper, of the form of a hollow

cone.

Birds are skinned like quadrupeds, and we take care to preserve the feet and head with the same precaution; but they should be more immediately skinned, because when putrefaction takes place, the feathers fall off. In cutting the skin we take care to scatter the feathers, that they may not be soiled. We leave the os cocygis (plate 2. c.) with the skin, otherwise the feathers of the tail would be liable to fall off; we must also leave the bones at the extremity of the wings. If the bird has a fleshy crest, the head must be preserved in spirits. When there are several of the same species, it will be always useful to send one of them entire in this liquor. It is desirable, if possible, to procure at the same time the male and female, and individuals of the same species, of different ages; for birds alter much according to their age: there are several which have even been taken for different species. It is also useful to have the nests and eggs. To preserve the eggs, we make a little hole at one end, empty it, and then fill it up again with wax. skeletons of those birds too large to be put in spirits, should also be sent.

very

The

It is useless to stuff birds. They would occupy too much room, and this operation, which cannot be done well by any one who is not experienced

in it, is much better performed when the skins have arrived at their destination. It is sufficient, for the skins, the feet, and head, to be well preserved.

Although there are several salt-water fish which are found almost universally, the greater number belong to particular shores and gulphs. It will be useful therefore to send all those which we find in countries not visited by naturalists, those even which are sold in them arkets. As to fresh-water fish, the species differ, not only according to the country, but even according to the rivers and lakes they inhabit; it is therefore essential to send all which can be procured. We put them into spirits, or when they are too large, send the skin only, merely dried, taking care to preserve the head and fins.

It is the same with reptiles. In skinning serpents we must take care not to injure the scales; and great caution must be used not to break the tails of lizards. It is desirable to send the skeletons of fish and reptiles which are too large to be put into spirits; these skeletons need not be mounted.

It is sufficient to take away the flesh rudely, and to dry the bones together thoroughly, without separating them. The whole skeleton should be placed in a box with cotton or very fine dry sand. If it be too long, it may be divided into two or three parts.

Insects are very various according to the climate and the nature of the soil.—We must not confine ourselves to the largest and richest in colour. We must collect all without distinction. We catch those which are furnished with wings and fly about plants, with gauze nets; those which swim in the water, by the same means. We seize with pincers those which live on putrid and disgusting substances, and we first throw them into camphorated spirits to clean them. A multitude of insects nourish themselves on trees: we procure the greater part by carefully searching under the old barks of the trunks, and by shaking the branches over a cloth or reversed umbrella. When we take an insect, we seize it by the breast, and stick it in a box, on cork, or wax, with a long pin; we must take care that the wings of butterflies, which continue to flutter until death, do not touch any thing. When the insects are dry, we put them into pasteboard boxes, with cork or wax at the bottom, pinning them securely, to prevent their being detatched. It is very useful to procure the caterpillar as well as the butterfly. When we find a caterpillar only, it should be put into a box with some leaves of the plant on which it was found, that it may transform itself. A small hole should be made in the box to admit the air. All insects, except butterflies, may be put into spirits; it is the best method of sending those which

are large, and it has the advantage of preserving the interior organs, which may be examined when there is occasion. As heavy insects may unfix themselves from the cork or wax in the pasteboard boxes, and one loose insect may break all the rest, it is a more simple method of preserving coleoptera, to place them, when dry, in a box of very fine sand. We first put a row of insects on a layer of sand, then cover them with another layer of sand, about an inch thick; we then place a second row of insects, and continue this method until the box is quite full: the sand must be well heaped up, that nothing may be deranged by the carriage. This is also a good method for crustacea. It is evident that we cannot employ it for butterflies, or any animals of a soft substance. The first ought to be placed in boxes, the latter in spirits.

We particularly desire travellers to send spiders and insects which are said to be venomous; those which are most destructive, such as termites or white ants; and to add the nests when they are sufficiently solid for conveyance; the insects to which medical properties are attributed; those which are employed in dyeing, as the different species of cochineal; the animal which produces the gum lac; those whose excretions, mixed with oil, form a species of wax, used for candles; the different species of silk worms, their cods; the butterflies to which these silk worms give