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       Directions for Collecting.
Hard matter such as bones, horns, shells, rocks, or specimens of minerals, should be packed so as not to chafe, a small barrel is the best casing for them, paper, hay, or straw is much better than sawdust or sand.
  Alcoholic specimens, particularly insects [not caterpillars, worms, or grubs] such as beetles, flies, bugs and centipedes; shells, particularly small ones from rocks or kelp, fish of small size and wild mice or rats or squirrels of all kinds, should be put in bottles and packed in oakum or paper in a box.
  Mud from the edges of pools or lakes, above all where it is scummy and green, should be dried and put up in paper, with careful note of the locality. Fine thread like green, or brown seaweeds should be dried without washing, and put up in the same way. These things often contain the most beautiful microscopic organisms, called Diatoms.
  Birdskins are particularly valuable and should be made by a small opening in the skin only, of the belly skimming down a little, cutting the legs, wings, and neck off under the skin, and getting the body out first, and each limb and the head separately. Plenty of arsenic should be dusted on with a little ball of oakum, particularly round the head, and the back of the skull sliced off enough to take out the brains, the skull thus cleaned should remain attached to the skin, and the oakum dust ball
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