ZOOLOGY.
_Zoophytes, Worms and Moluscs._--The sea is peopled by an infinity of
animals soft or gelatinous grouped as moluscs, worms or zoophytes, of
which some live isolated, others in society. The greatest part of
these animals are unknown, and their study is very important, as they
give us general notions on the organisation of beings and on the
diversity of forms under which living nature shows herself.
Surgeons and amateurs of natural history travelling on board ships
might procure us a great number of these curious animals.
It is sufficient to take them with a net, to wash them well in warm
water, to put them in alcohol with the precautions that we shall point
out, and to prepare a note which indicates the latitude of the place
where they are taken, if they live solitary or in society, if they are
phosphorescent, if they inhabit a certain depth or the surface of the
sea. The colors of gelatinous animals not keeping well in liquor, it
is very important to mention them.
Rocks, sea weed, the bottom of the sea are covered with shells of a
gelatinous or flesh-look aspect of very bright colors, that may be
mistaken for lifeless bodies; yet they are formed by the aggregation
of a crowd of little microscopic animals, whose organisation is very
varied; care should be taken to remove them with the blade of a knife,
and these beds, not generally very thick, should be plunged in spirits
of wine, taking care to note their color, which quickly disappears.
It would be useful to collect numerous sponges, and to preserve them
in alcohol.
There exist, in the depths of the sea, a multitude of animals which do
not appear on the surface, and which are entirely unknown. They are
obtained with the drag; frequent use should be made of the drag from
several fathoms up to the greatest depths; that is as far as 150
fathoms.
Not less care should be taken to collect the land shells as those of
the sea. Fossil shells are likewise of great interest.
Very frail shells, oursins, sea-stars, etc., should be wrapped in
cotton and placed, each one apart in a box. It would be well to wash
in chalk water oursins and sea-stars; the greatest number possible of
these animals should be preserved in spirits of wine, taking care to
surround them with thread, or even fine linen or cotton, and,
afterwards, wound with thicker linen or several turns of thread, so as
to hinder the points or spines from falling. The madrepores of a
certain volume should be fixed by wire to the bottom of the box in
which they are placed, but these frail substances would arrive in
better order, if each specimen was placed in a box apart.
The shell-fish should be placed in alcohol. The outer shell, when it
is spiral, should be broken at the upper part, and at several points
of the spire, to let the liquor run in, so that the whole animal may
be preserved; it is possible, following this indication, to have
shell-fish in such order, that they may be dissected, even after being
a very long time in the collections.
In calm or gentle breezes, it is well to have ready a gauze net to
seize the sea molluscs, whose number is considerable. They should be
watched and drawn several times a night, for it is probable that the
spirule will be found at the surface of the water. Fishes should be
opened to find this same spirule which is doubtless caught by them;
the other Cephalopodes are not less numerous or less curious to study.
There is a class of being called marine worms or Annelides, of which
but a few kinds are known, because little pains have been taken to
collect them; these animals frequent generally the shores of the sea,
a great number live in the interstices of madrepores, several make
deep holes in the sand or in the mud. With spades and hammers they
could be easily procured; it would be necessary to preserve them in
alcohol, as the greatest part of these kinds make themselves sheaths,
it would be well to collect them and put them in spirits of wine.
Ordinarily these animals quickly change color; it would be well to
note their color; it would be always well to do this for the leeches,
whose colors disappear as soon as they are dead. The attention of
naturalists should be directed towards the lombrics or earth-worms.
These animals could be sent us alive as well as all the land molluscs,
by sending them in closed boxes containing a little earth or damp
moss.
It would be well to look for the entozoaires or helminthes of
different animals and send them, declaring at the same time the animal
and viscera whence the worm is extracted.
_Articulated animals._--Articulated animals (viz. insects, spiders,
crustacees, etc.), compose the principal family of the animal kingdom;
collections made in distant countries include generally a considerable
proportion of new-varieties and the capture, preservation and
transport of these little beings offer no serious difficulties. We
recommend in a special manner to the attention of travellers
enthomological researches; undertaken with zeal and intelligence, even
by a person who is not a naturalist, they can not fail of being useful
to science and important for the museum. In this, as in the other
branches of zoology, it is not only the large and brilliant kinds
which are more valued by the naturalist; generally it is, on the
contrary, among the small insects or those of plain colors that the
more novel forms are found; for collectors have ordinarily neglected
them, and even in the best explored regions (in the environs of Paris,
for example) are discovered varieties which, till now, have escaped
attention. As for the manner of forming these collections and the
particular indications relative to the classes into which is divided
this vast division of the animal kingdom, and, consequently, we shall
give to each of these groups a separate article.
_Insects._--What we have said of articulated animals in general, is
particularly applicable to insects, whose number is immense, and whose
forms vary beyond all imagination. The kinds differ extremely from one
country to another, often even from one locality to another, and it is
rare to find perfect identity between insects which inhabit different
regions, though often, at the first glance, no difference can be
detected between them; besides, there is no point on the globe, where
the enthomologic Faun is completly known, and although our museum has
about eighty thousand kinds, our galleries do not include half that
are seen in looking through the different collections of Europe. It
results that, in all countries, travellers who occupy themselves with
enthomology, can render themselves useful to the museum, and, in
distant countries, they should not neglect collecting all the insects
they find, even when the kinds do not appear to differ in anything
from those found every day at home. There are some parts of the globe,
which, enthomologically, deserve to fix the attention of the
collecter, either by reason of their extraordinary richness or on
account of the small number of parcels yet sent to the museum. Such
are: the west part of Africa, from the gulf of Beninso the cape of
good Hope; the Birman Empire, Assan, and even the interior of India,
whence the English enthomologist receive so many remarkable varieties;
Borneo, the Phillipines and the neighbouring isles; the western and
northern part of Australia; the west coast of North America, from
Mexico to Behring's strait, and the great basins of the Amazon.
In general entomologists content themselves with collecting insects
without studying the manners and mode of life of these animals; yet
they thus fulfill but a part of their duty, for it is necessary for
the progress of science to have exact notions on this subject. Thus,
it is well to indicate, whenever it is possible, not only the locality
where the insect is found, but, besides, the nature of the locality,
the names of the plants on which the variety is found, and all the
particulars relative to its manner of life. It would be interesting to
have samples of the products of the industry of these little beings,
the nest of bees and ants, the combs of wild bees, cocoons, etc. The
stuffs supplied by insects and used in the arts, are equally important
to collect and study with regard to their mode of production. Besides,
we shall call the attention of travellers to the alteration made by
insects in the plants they inhabit, the manner many of them pierce the
bark of trees or even the wood, eat or roll the leaves, or cause in
them, by their stings escrescences, etc. Specimens of these
alterations would be of great interest to enthomology, especially when
united with the insect that occasions them.
We urge travellers, likewise, to look for cheniles and the other
larvæ, and to preserve some of them alive, in order to obtain a
perfect insect, or, at least, a crysalis. Larvæ whose origin is
unknown would be of scarce any interest to the museum, while a
collection in which each larvæ is united whith the perfect insect
would be of great interest.
Besides the insects that live as parasites on other animals should not
be neglected.
Insects are easily caught and need few instruments. The best way to
take a great number of these animals at a time is to throw quickly on
the plants of the meadows and lawns a cloth sack whose mouth is
attached to a circle of iron, fixed at the end of a stick. By
directing this instrument alternatively right and left, even the
fleetest insect cannot get out, and all those that are caught by its
movement, are driven to the bottom of the sack; they should be taken
out one by one, either with the hand or pincers, and pierced
immediately with a pin proportioned to the size of the animal. The
coleopters should be pierced on the right wing (clytze), the
hymenopters, dipters and lepidopters in the middle of the waist, the
orthopters and nevropters a little behind, between the base of the
wings.
For the small kinds, it is better not to fix them in this manner, and
to preserve those whose shell is hard enough, the coleopters and the
most part of hemipters, for example, it is sufficient to place them in
little bottles or in flacks full of rolls of paper (or even cotton, if
paper is wanting). This way is even applicable to the great kinds and
should be employed when there is not time to impale with care the
insects that are caught. The small kinds with soft shells should be
preserved in alcohol for drying frequently deforms them to such a
degree that they cannot be recognised. It is, also, in this liquor
that the caterpillars should be preserved, as well as other larvæ, and
it would be well to place with them a certain number of dried insects
so that a part might be taken for anatomical researches.
Butterflies are taken by the aid of a gauze net or pocket. The insects
are found chiefly in fields whose flowrs abound and on the leaves of
trees; but they must be sought too in dark places, for, during the
day, the night kinds are here asleep upon walls or the bark of trees.
With a little skill, they can be pierced without seizing them before
hand, and if there is fear of missing them thus, they should be
covered whith the gauze pinews, through which the pin can be passed.
When the air is calm and the night obscure, they can be easily taken
by means of torches, for it is sufficient to place a light in a low
and open place to attract a multitude of phalenes and other nocturnal
insects. But to have handsome lepidopters, it is best to obtain
caterpillars, feed them with the leaves of the plant on which they are
found, and pierce the butterfly as soon as he has undergone his
change, for the specimens caught in their flight are rarely fresh.
For the coleopters, it is not sufficient to beat the bushes and
herbaceous plants, these insects should, also, be sought under the
bark of trees, in the interior of mushrooms, under the stones and even
in the soil: for this, it is well to be provided with a paring-knife,
an instrument which is much like a carpenter's chisel, but which is
slightly curved, and ends in a kind of pointed spatula.
Aquatic insects are taken by the help of a net like that used for
insects of the air, but whose bag should be of canvass instead of
cloth. In fine, to catch the hymenopters, whose sting is often
formidable, it is necessary to have a pincers whose prongs are
disposed like rackets and armed with coarse lace.
The preservation of insects that have been pierced requires some care;
to prevent the lepidopters from injuring their wings in struggling, it
is well, directly they are caught, to press the throat down; but,
generally, it is necessary, on returning from the chase to kill
quickly all the insects that have been caught, and, to attain this
end, the best way is to place them dry in a tumbler surrounded with
boiling water, for a high temperature kills them in a few minutes. The
boxes designed for the reception of entomologic specimens should be of
light wood, and, at least, two inches and a half deep; the bottom
should be lined with cork or some other very soft vegetable substance
and the pins should be pressed in as much as possible. When the
insects are large, it is necessary, besides, to fix them by means of
several pins placed around; for if one of them gets loose, he not only
injures humself, but likewise damages all those whom he jostles. As
soon as a box is full, and the insects dry enough, it should be shut
and pasted with bands of paper on all the joints; but in warm
countries, where destructive insects abound, this precaution is not
sufficient; the boxes should, besides, be placed in a tin chest
soldered on all sides.
_Arachnides._--Animal of this class are less numerous than insects,
but they merit the attention of travellers; certain kinds live in the
water, but the greatest part are land animals, and live in shrubs or
in holes, either in old walls, or in the ground. The industry that
many spiders display in the construction of their dwelling or the
snares designed to catch their prey, is very remarkable: the nests of
the mygales, for example, is very curious. It would be interesting to
have a collection of threads spun by exotic spiders, and the
preservation of these delicate tissues is easy enough, if they are
spread out on a leaf of paper dipped in gum-water. It is perhaps
superfluous to add that those specimens would have little value,
unless each one is accompanied by the spider that belongs to it. In
fine, we will point out to travellers the kinds reputed venemous, and
those which live as parasites on other animals.
The preservation of the arachnides offer some difficulties; in drying,
those animals lose their shape, and in alcohol, their colors; so it is
necessary, as much as possible, to preserve specimens of the same kind
by both these processes, and to take care to number them so that they
may be easily identified.
_Crustacees._--These animals are almost all aquatic and the greatest
part in the seas. Crabs are found generally near the shore in the
hollows of the rocks and under the stones; but there are kinds which
hide in the sand or which live at great depths; some live entirely in
the sea. It is the same for the decapodes macroures, such as the
langoustes and the salicoes; and it is generally by the aid of drags
and nets that they are taken; but a more successful way of fishing is
to sink to the bottom an open case, a kind of basket whose mouth is in
the form of a reversed cone; some carrion placed in the interior of
this snare attracts the crabs, and when once in they cannot get out.
The small kinds of crevettines are found, in great abundance, in the
midst of the sea-weed; and to catch them, it is necessary to place a
certain quantity of marine plants in a vase full of sea-water: the
little animals that are in it quickly exhaust the oxygen dissolved in
this liquid and they rise to the surface where it is easy to take them
with a spoon.
Other crustacees of small size are found in the deep sea and are taken
in nets like the sea mollusques. Besides, there exist a great number
of these animals, who live as parasits on fish (about the gills
especially), and by a collection of them science would be enriched by
a multitude of new and curious specific form. Until now travellers
have almost entirely neglected the little crustacees of the order of
the entomostracees, which are found in fresh water; and it is
desirable that they should be collected in all localities.
The best means of preservation of the crustaces is to plunge them in
alcohol from 20 to 25°, after having wrapped them in linen or leaves.
The large kinds shall be dried, by taking care first to take out the
viscera that are under the shell; but the crustacees preserved in this
manner are extremely fragile and it is rare to preserve them entire.
_Fish and reptiles._--Although among sea fish there are several kinds
which are found in different coasts, the greatest number inhabit
particular shores and gulfs. It would be useful then to send those
that are found in countries not yet visited by naturalists and even
the common market fish.
As for the fresh-water fish, they differ, not only according to the
country, but according to the rivers and lakes where they live. It
would be well to send all that can be found.
Generally, any fish brought from a foreign market, with the name that
it bears in the country, would be an acquisition interesting for
science.
They should be put in alcohol, or, if too large, only the skin well
dried, taking care to preserve the head, teeth and fins. It is
essential that the fins should be stretched out in order to dry them
well. For this they should be glued on paper.
Reptiles should also be put in alcohol, even if their great size only
permits thus to preserve the skin, which is much better than to send
it dried. In skinning snakes, it is necessary to leave the head, and
to take care not to injure the scales. Great care should be taken too
not to break the tails of lizards.
It should be desirable to send the skeletons of fish and reptiles too
large to be sent in spirits.
These skeletons need not be perfect. It is sufficient to take of the
flesh, and, afterwards, to dry perfectly, without taking them to
pieces. The whole skeleton should be placed in a box with cotton or
with very dry and fine sand. If it is too long, it could be separated
into two or three parts.
The following indications will point out the reptiles which, in the
present state of science, would offer the greatest interest for the
collections of the museum.
_North America_--_Testudo polyphemus_ or Gopher.
_Cistudo Blandingii_, Holbrook.
_Emys rubridentris_, Leconte.
_Emys floridaua_, id.
_Emys mobylensis_, Holbrook.
_Emys insculpta_, Leconte.
_Emys aregoniensis_, Halbrook.
_Emys hyeroglyphiea_, Holbrook.
_Emys cumberlandensis_, id.
_Emys conciuna_, Leconte.
_Emys troostii_, Holbrook.
_Emysaura serpentina_, Dum. Bib. (large ones).
_Chlonura temminckii_, Holbrook (young and grown).
_Trionyx muticus_, (large ones).
_Trionyx spiniferus_, (large ones).
As much as possible some living specimens of each of these kinds, as
well as of all the other chelonians; these reptiles, whose flesh is
eaten, abound in the markets of the United States.
_Rana mugiens_ or Bull-frog; (living subjects).
All the small kinds of lizards and serpents and all the batraciens
urodeles, with persisting gills.
Rattle snakes from the south which differ from those of the north (in
alcohol).
We have nothing or almost nothing in reptile from the Californio,
Yutacan and Guatemala; _boas_, the _crested basilic_ and the _horrible
heloderme_, a great lizard with tuberculiform scales, should be sent
us.
_Antilles._--Cuba nourrishes a prodigious quantity of reptiles which
are entirely unknown to us.
The museum possesses only some kinds of this class of vertebres from
Jamaïca.
_Birds and mammiferes._--The study of zoology in the Museum of natural
history is not confined to the observation of the forms of animals, to
the description of their organs; it proposes, besides, to examine
their habits, their development, their instinct, and to see if they
can be of any use. Formerly, nothing could be learnt of these
essential objects but by the relations of travellers. Establishments
formed at great expense by princes or rich amateurs to collect and
take care of rare animals, were rather objects of luxury and curiosity
than an object of study. But since we have had a menagerie at the
museum, a new career of observation is open to naturalists. There,
animals can be followed in all degrees of their developments, and
their manner of living can be compared with their organisation, that
anatomy discovers after death; positive knowledge, acquired on the so
important phenomena of copulation, gestation, birth; the varieties
which depend on age distinguished from those which are produced by
climate, nourishment, by crossing races, and the difference determined
which really exists between species. If these animals are of a nature
to render services to domestic economy or agriculture, and if they
breed there are the means to raise and domesticate them, and, so, to
procure new resources. The Vigogne, the Lama, the Alpaca, the Tapir,
the kanguroo, the Casoar and many others, will pershaps one day be
very useful.
Considered with relation to science, there are few animals strangers
to Europe which are not useful as a study. The history of the greatest
part of them is yet very incomplete. That of the lion was not well
known until after the lionness of the menagerie had whelps; it is also
since two elephants have died ad the menagerie of the museum that an
exact knowledge of the anatomy of this great quadruped has been
acquired.
Travellers cannot be too strongly recommended to neglect nothing in
order to send animals to us when they have it in their power to find
them living.
The small quadrupeds, chiefly those that burrow and hide themselves in
the ground are the least known. The bat tribe are still less so, and
merit not less the attention and care of travellers.
Animals can easily be procured by applying to the natives of the
country who know where they are to be found and frequently meet them.
They can take them in snares and bring them in alive. It will not be
more difficult for them to take in their early youth the quadrupeds
whose lurking-places they know, and birds whose nets they have seen.
The younger the animals are, the easier it is to accustom them to live
in cages. They will require, at first, particular care; it will be
well to feed them for some weeks on shore before shipment, and too
much pain cannot be taken to tame them. An animal that is not
frightened at the sight of those who take care of him, is always in
better health and resists more easily the fatigues of a sea-voyage
than one who remains wild, and there is scarce any animal that does
not yield to kind treatment.
Nourishment in excess, when they are shut up, and without the power of
taking exercise, would be injurious. The surest way of keeping them is
merely to give them what is necessary.
After a suitable nourishment, cleanliness is most necessary to them.
Often, on shipboard, some one would be found who will take care of
them, either for amusement or a slight remuneration. It is essential
to take precautions to prevent the animals being teased and irritated
by passengers.
As there are always difficulties in the transportation of living
animals, there is an easier way whose results are more extended; that
is the spoils of dead animals.
Quadrupeds can be procured either by sending hunters in the interior
of the country, or by applying to the natives of the country.
They will content themselves with bringing the skin, the bony head and
feet of the great animals that they have killed in places too remote
to be preserved or transported entire.
The mammifers of a size small enough to be enclosed in a jar or cask,
should be put in alcohol. Those that are too large to preserve in this
manner should be skinned, and care should be taken to send with the
skin the feet and head, with the brain taken out, or if that cannot be
done, the jaws, at least, should be sent. In preparing the head, care
should be taken not to damage the skull. The brain can be extracted
with care without increasing the occipital hole.
We shall speak, further on, of the means to be employed and the
precautions to be taken for the preservation of the skins and for that
of animals placed in alchool.
When the skeleton of the animals can be joined to the skin, a great
service will be rendered to science. The officers can entrust with
this care the surgeons of the ships, for whom this operation will be
easy.
It is not necessary that the skeletons should be set up. After having
boiled the bones, taken of the flesh and dried them well, all those of
the same animal should be put in a cloth-sack with moss, sea-weed,
rolls of paper, or some other soft and dry matter that they may not
rub one agains the other. Those that are very frail should be
enveloped with paper and care should be taken not to lose any.
Hunters ought to take care to proportion their shot to the size of the
birds, so as not to injure them. As soon as a bird is killed, the
blood should be staunched as soon as possible, and a little cotton
placed in the bill and nostrils of the bird, so that the blood that
comes out may not injure the feathers, especially those of the head.
If blood has been spilt on the feathers, dust should be put on them
and renewed until they are dry; they can be made bright by rubbing
them lightly between the fingers. After the bird is cold and the blood
coagulated, it should be taken by the claws and tail, to place it in a
bein of paper; these beins are arranged in a box, so that the feathers
may not rub.
Birds should be skinned like quadrupeds, and care should be taken to
preserve with the same precautions the bills and heads. Birds should
be skinned more promptly than quadrupeds, because as soon as
putrefactions begins, the feathers fall off. In opening the skin on
the belly, care should be taken to separate the feathers _so that they
be not injured_. Plaster or dust should always be put on the skin, in
order to thoroughly absorb the moisture. The coccygis should be left
with the skin; without this, the feathers of the tail are in danger of
falling off. It will be the same with the bones of the extremities of
the wings. If the bird has a fleshy crest, the head should be
preserved in alcohol. When there are several specimens of the same
class, it will always be useful to send one in this liquor.
It is desirable to procure, at the same time, the male and female, and
specimens of the same kind, some young, others old, birds differing
much according to their age. It is well to have also the eggs and
nests. To preserve the eggs, a little hole is made at both ends, they
are emptied and packed in bran or very fine dust. Care should be taken
to indicate by numbers corresponding to those of the skin that laid
them. Without this, these sorts of collections are useless. The same
precaution should be taken with the nests, which should always be
packed in a different box from the eggs.
The skeleton of birds too large to be put in liquor should be sent, if
possible.
It is useless to stuff birds. They take up too much room; and this
operation, which can only be well done by experienced persons, it is
better to postpone till they arrive at the place of their destination.
It is enough that the skins be prepared and well preserved.
After having pointed out, in a general manner, what would enrich our
collections, we think it necessary to specify the animals, whose
existence is known, which the museum is without, or has not in good
order, or desires to procure.
_North America_.--All the mammiferes which resemble our mole preserved
in alcohol.
The grizzly bear of the mountains; grown and young.
The empetra and all the marmots, especially the small kinds.
The different kinds of condylures.
The saccomys.
The kinds _pseudostoma_ and _diplostoma_ of American naturalists.
The bearich porcupine, hedge-hog.
The lemming of Hudson's bay.
The wolf and carnivorous animals of the same region.
The antelope of the rocky mountains.
The mountain sheep.
The different kinds of foxes.
The ovibos or musk ox, an animal yet scarcely known in Europe.
Labelling and packing collections.
It is desirable that each one of the animals sent as skin, skeleton,
or in alcohol, should be accompanied by a note which indicates with
precision:
The country where the animals is found;
Upon what it lives;
Its habits, if they are known;
Its common name;
If it is useful or otherwise;
The uses of its skins, flesh, grease, etc.;
Popular and superstitions opinions concerning it among the native of
the country;
Its sex and age, if these are known;
The season in which it has been taken.
These notes written in a little note-book should have each a number
corresponding to that attached to the objects to which they relate.
That there may be no confusion with regard to the place where the
objects and notes are deposited, it would be for the person who sends
them to verify all the numbers and arrange them in such a manner that
they form a series, so that it may be certain that such a butterfly
belongs to such a crysalis, such a shell-fish to such a shell. These
numbers shoul be written on parchment or squares of lead, attached
with strong thread, either to skins inclosed in boxes or to jars or
casks containing animals. It is easy to have the numbers distinctly
marked on bits of lead; then they will be no uncertainly about the
characters.
Thin pieces of tin can also be used with the numbers engraved with a
steel-point and these can be attached to animals immersed in alcohol.
A little cord with knots should be attached to objects thus preserved
and to those which are in bones and very dry. These knots form two
series separated by an interval; the first series marks the 10th, the
second, the units; by this means any number can be specified. We even
know by experience that the same of an object written with ink on a
piece of parchment can be attached with a thread; alcohol does not
alter it.
We have now to speak of the means of packing the objects of zoology,
so that they may arrive in France in a better state of preservation.
Objects sent are either parts of animals, or entire animals preserved
in alchool.
The skins of animals and birds may be attacked by Dermestes and other
analogous insects, in warm countries especially, unless great care is
taken to prevent it.
The surest means is to use the arsenic preservative known by the name
of Becoeur's soap.
This is the preservative employed in the museum and its success is
certain. It is well to use it especially for rare and precious
specimens, about whose preservation there is any cause of anxiety. It
is wise to plaster the skins of birds with it, especially the claws
and bill.
It is well, likewise, to plaster the naked parts of quadrupeds, such
as the face and hands of apes.
Each bird or quadruped of small or middling size, thus prepared, and
in the inside of which a little cotton is put, not to give it a form,
but that the different parts of the skin need not touch, should be
placed in a sack or enveloped in paper well closed, and these sacks
should be ranged in a box, which should be well pointed, so that not
only dampness but even air may be excluded.
The skins of large animals, too thick to be preserved by means of
arsenical soap, should be rubbed whith salt. The skin of the animal
should be stretched, covered carefully with salt within and without,
and when, after several days it is sufficiently saturated, it should
be folded with the epiderm inside, and put in a box, or simply wrapped
in cloth, straw or any other dry substance, and keept as much as
possible beyond the reach of dampness.
The means that we have pointed out are simple, easy and require little
time.
We come now to the way of preserving animals in alcohol.
If they are quadrupeds, birds, reptiles or fish of considerable size,
each specimen should be wrapped in linen tied round the body with
thread; if the animals are very small like mice, small vipers,
shell-fish or worms, the linen should be large; a certain number of
these animals are placed upon it so that they do not touch; then the
linen is rolled upon it self, so as to make a doll sowed with thread,
that it may not unwind; afterwards, place the bundles side by side in
a cask. When the cask is full, so that the bundles are packed close,
it should be filled with brandy, rum or whiskey; generally some strong
liquor; afterwards it should be pitched with care, so that the liquor
may not escape. This method has two advantages: 1º animals wrapped in
linen cannot tear each other with their nails or spines; 2º the linen
having imbibed the alcohol, if the cask leakes, the animal will not be
entirely dry; and when the casks are opened, as they should be several
times on a long voyage, there be an opportunity of filling them again
with alcohol.
The spirituous liquor be from 16 to 22° of the areometer of Baumé;
stronger, it destroys the colors of animals; it is used at 22° only
for mammifers. All spirituous liquor are equally good. The color less
are preferable.
Before wrapping vertebrated animals in cloth, an incision should be
made in the breast and abdomen, to let the liquor run in the inside of
the body. The opening should be very small, in the side, and not in
the middle. If the mammifers are large, it is well to pour the alchool
in the intestinal canal, either by the mouth or anus.
It is well to renew the liquor, after the animal has remained in it
some time: this precaution is absolutely necessary, when there is
several animals in the cask; if it is neglected, they may corrupt.
It is well to arrange the animals so that they may not touch the
bottom of the cask.
INSTRUCTION
RELATIVE
TO ZOOLOGY AN ANTHROPOLOGY
By M. ISIDORE GEOFFROY SAINT-HILAIRE.
_Generation of the Pouch-Animals._--Mexico and expecially Brazil
produce, as it is known, several varieties of the Marsupial Mammifers,
all the family of the Didelphides, but some, such as the Didelphes,
provided with a true pouch, other, such as the Micoures and the
Hermiures, without pouch properly so called, doubtless it will be
possible to procure live specimens of both sexes. We cannot too
strongly urge the naturalist to neglect nothing to clear up the
mystery, yet but partially penetrated, of the manner these mammifers
reproduce kind. We are far indeed, from the period, when it was
believed that the animals were formed at the dugs of their dams. The
labors of Hunter, Home, Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire de Blainville and other
observers, have long since removed from science this inadmissible
anomaly; some years ago, M. Owen, having the fortunate opportunity of
examining the uterus of a female Kanguroo, that died in bringing
forth, and of dissecting the embryo it contained has developped
several facts of great interest.
But the intra-uterine gestation of the marsupials, and the second
singular gestation peculiar to them, still remain new and important
subjects of study for anatomy and comparative physiology. Animals or
parts of animals sent in alcohol from America, the Indian Archipelago,
or New-Holland, some cases of reproduction occuring in Paris and
London, such are the imperfect elements which the French and English
physiologists possess; their efforts to procure a certain number of
specimens have always been unsuccessful. This determined Geoffroy
Saint-Hilaire to draw up in 1824, and the administration of the museum
to send to all the countries where the Marsupials are found, detailed
information on the state of the question at that time, and of the
researches imperiously required by the wants of science from observers
in those regions.
1º If learned naturalists could send a series, so that the evolution
of the ovula, the embryo, and the egg could be studied from its
fecundation to its discharge from the uterus, they would thus supply
Zootomists with all the elements of the great work we have just
pointed out.
2º To observe with care the circumstances of the passage of the foetus
to the vagina of the pouch.
3º To describe in the most accurate manner the way the foetus clings
to the teat. They should determine this by observations of several
specimens of different ages, and repeat, if possible, on the
Didelphides, the curious experiments made by Collie and Morgan on the
mammary foetus of a Marsurpial of an entirely different family.
4º To determine exactly and analyse the liquids contained in the
breasts of the dam, and the digestive organs of the mammary foetus.
5º To examine in the living subjects the remarkable arrangement of the
respiratory organs, discovered by Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, which
establish a connexion between the posterior nostrils and the cavity of
the larynx.
We are entirely without notions concerning the abdominal folds, which,
in this kind, take the place of the pouch, in a certain degree, and
know nothing of the modifications these folds pass through in the
different epochs of gestation.
_Anthropology_.--The countries to which these instructions are
adressed to are doubtless among those where naturalists can collect
the greatest number of interesting facts for this branch of natural
history, formerly neglected and to which has been given, for some
years past, an impulse worthy of its high importance. In Mexico and in
the United States three of the principal human races are found
together; the race peculiar to America, the Caucasian race from
different countries of Europe, and the Ethiopian carried over in its
train. All these races cross-breed, and from the crossing of the
half-breeds with them and each other, result many curious
combinations, whose scientific study is of the highest interest.
It has unhappily been, for a longtime, as difficult as it is
important. If the plain and marked characteristics of the two animal
species often disappear; if a skilful analysis, enlightened by direct
comparison with analogous objects, can alone discover them, how can
the anthropologist size between two neighbouring types, express and
transmit by description, light, fleeting distinctions, some times
invisible for him, who has not the habit of observing them?
Three inventions or new application, made almost simultaneously, have
happily removed part of the great difficulties, and opened a new era
in the natural history of man; the daguerreotype, which fixes and
engraves with geometrical precision, the general shape of the body and
the features of the face; the Cephalometer of Antelme M. D. which
measures and sketches with a process almost as exact, the dimensions
and forms of the head, and enables one to determine, as nearly as
possible, the mean dimensions and typical form of the head of a people
the sex and age: in fine, the perfection and happy application to
anthropology of the process of moulding, performed directly, or by the
aid of the ingenious physonotype of M. Sauvage; a process by which the
whole head and, if necessary, the members of the body are preserved
and placed before our eys.
We have the hope that, with the aid of the Daguerreotype and
physionotype, the american naturalists will enrich anthropology with
results of great interest. By photographic portraits, such as those
presented to the Academy by M. Thiesson; by mouldings to be added to
the fine collection made by M. Dumoutier, now in the museum; by
colored drawnings, by descriptions and measures, they would transmit
us information of extreme precision, true scientific elements, to
which the committee would attach the greatest importance.
We think it our duty to direct the researches of the american
naturalists, not only to the different varieties of the American race,
but also to the half-breeds, yet so little known, of both, and, also,
to the offspring of the crossing of the first with the Caucasian race.
We request them, as soon as they shall have determined exactly the
physical characteristics of these difficult varieties, to neglect no
information that may enlighten us as to their intellectual capacity.
We would, likewise, entreat these gentlemen to specify exactly and
express by colored drawnings done with care, the different states of
the hues of the American races and half-breeds, from the moment of
their birth up to the period that they arrive at the normal color of
their kind.
We would desire them, besides, to collect, of these same races, their
half-breeds, and the white race, more minute particulars than as yet
obtained, on the duration and difficult phases and epoch of puberty.
_Chemistry and agriculture._--These are the principal forms that allow
the use of Caoutchouc without dissolving it and without altering the
heat.
1º Straight tubes; elbowed tubes; tubes in T of different thickness
and diameter;
2º Full cylinders, to be cut in France as wanted;
3º Rectangular plates, cut in France;
4º Caps to cork bottles and flasks.
It would be desirable to examine, in an economical point of view, the
question of the preparation of preserved sugar, transportable to
France, and giving, by a simple preparation, elastic caoutchouc.
_Dye woods and other vegetable products_.--Details on the working of
dye woods, their qualities, uses, marks, would be interesting for
technology.
It would not be less useful to send samples, branches, leaves and
flowers of the usual plants, whose products are or may be applied to
tanning; the extraction of oils, etc.
_Remains of animals._--It is known that domestic animals, transported
by Europeans to America, have multiplied and spread. It results from
this that products which in Europe and particulary in France, are
needed by agriculture and the different acts, are in great part lost
in Brazil and several countries of south America. To send them to
France or our colonies should be prepared:
1º For manure, blood coagulated by heat or lime, and dried;
2º For nourishment or manure, dried flesh;
3º Intestines prepared and dried which, blown up, might be employed to
hold and preserve aliments which might be utilised as primary matters
for different fabrications, such as for harmonic chords, whip cords,
rattles, machines, gold beaters skin and cartridge paper; applications
which one of the committee, M. Payen, discovered, by and which would
employ all the remains of intestines useless for the usage we have
described;
4º Tendons for glue factories.
There are other animal remains whose use has been long appreciated,
horns, and feet, and skins. But the transportation of the first might
be rendered less expensive by first pressing them down, and the last
are, as it is known, often attacked on shipboard by insects. To
prevent these injuries so hurtful to commerce the employment of
different substances should be tried such as pyroligneous acid, the
chloride of lime, the bichloride of mercury.
If naturalists wish to try these different processes, we doubt not
that merchants, for whom this question is one of great interest, will
assist their experiments by all the means in their power.
An appeal is likewise made to agriculturits for seed of north American
forest trees.
FINIS.
Note de transcription:
La Table des Matières au début de ce livre électronique a été ajoutée
pour faciliter la navigation. Les tables, dont l'une se trouvait sur
les pages 46 et 48 et l'autre sur les pages 47 et 49, ont été
reconstituées.
Transcriber's note:
The table of content at the beginning of this e-book was added for the
reader's convenience. The table originally printed on pages 46 and 48,
and the table originally printed on pages 47 and 49 have been
reassembled into their proper order.