Marine biology -- Great Britain; Seashore; Seashore biology
It is most important to observe that dried specimens--not starfishes
only, but all animal and vegetable objects--should never be placed in
the cabinet or other store-case until _perfectly_ dry, for a very small
amount of moisture left in them will often encourage the development of
moulds, not only on themselves, but on other specimens stored with them.
Very small and delicate starfishes, when preserved in a dry condition,
may be protected from injury by fastening them on a card by means of a
little gum, or by keeping them permanently stored on cotton wool in
glass-topped boxes.
Sea urchins, or sea eggs, as they are commonly called, may be preserved
exactly in the same way as starfishes, though it is more essential in
the case of these to soak them in strong spirit previous to drying,
otherwise the soft animal matter within the shell will decompose before
the drying is complete. Here, however, it is possible to remove the
whole interior with the aid of a piece of bent wire, and to thoroughly
clean the inner surface of the shell before drying it.
Some of the shells should be preserved with the spines all intact, and
others with these removed in order to show the arrangement of the
plates which compose the shell, as well as the perforations, and the
rounded processes to which the spines are articulated.
The majority of sea urchins are provided with a most complicated and
beautiful arrangement of teeth which are well worthy of study. These
should be removed from a moderately large specimen, the soft surrounding
structures carefully dissected away, and then cleaned by means of an old
tooth-brush without disarranging them.
It will be found that dried sea urchins will require care when preserved
with spines attached, for these appendages are usually very brittle and
are easily dislocated at their bases where they are united to the shell
by ball-and-socket joints.
It may be mentioned here that corrosive sublimate is very valuable for
preventing the development of mould on the surfaces of starfishes, sea
urchins, and museum specimens generally. It is best supplied in the form
of an alcoholic solution made by dissolving a few grains in about half a
pint of methylated spirit; the advantage of this over an aqueous
solution being the rapidity with which it dries. In most cases it is
simply necessary to apply the solution to the object by means of a soft
brush, but, as regards starfishes and urchins it is far better to
dissolve a few grains of the corrosive sublimate in the spirit in which
the objects are placed previous to drying.
CRUSTACEANS
The preservation of crustaceans by the dry method often requires some
care and demands a certain amount of time; but the process is never
really difficult, and the satisfaction of having produced a good
specimen for a permanent collection well repays one for the trouble
taken and time spent.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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