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.