By the courtesy of Mr. H. W. Bates, F.R.C.S. and Asst. Sec. R.G.S., we are enabled to furnish our readers with the following valuable and practical information regarding the gathering together and preserving such objects of natural history as he may be fortunate enough to discover:—
Travellers (says Mr. Bates) who intend devoting themselves especially to natural history will generally possess all the requisite information beforehand. It is to those whose objects or duties are of another nature, or who, whilst on a purely geographical land expedition, wish to know the readiest means of collecting, preserving, and safely transmitting specimens they collect, that the following hints are addressed.
Outfit.
Double barrel guns with spare nipples, and a few common guns to lend to native hunters, especially if going to the interior of tropical America. Fine powder in canisters, and fine shot (Nos. 8 and 11), must be taken from England; coarse powder and shot can be had in any part; a good supply of the best caps. Arsenical soap, a few pounds in tin cases; brushes of different sizes; two or three scalpels; scissors (including a pair of short bladed ones); forceps of different sizes for inserting cotton into the necks of birds’ skins; needles and thread. A few small traps with which to capture small (mostly nocturnal) animals; strong landing net for water mollusks, &c.; two stout insect sweeping nets; cylindrical tin box, with shoulder strap, for collecting plants; a few dozen of small and strong broad-mouthed bottles, and a couple of corked pocket boxes; insect pins, a few ounces each of Nos. 5, 14, and 11; stone jars, for reptiles and fishes in spirit, to fit four in a box, with wooden partitions. If animals in spirit are to be collected largely, a supply of sheet tin, or zinc, with a pair of soldering irons, and a supply of soft solder, must be taken instead of stone jars: cylindrical cases can be then made of any size required. By means of the soldering apparatus also empty powder canisters or other tin vessels can be easily converted into receptacles for specimens; a ream or two of botanical drying paper, with boards of same size as the sheet, and leather straps; a few gross of chip pill boxes in nests; a dozen corked store boxes (about 14in. by 11in. and 2½in. deep) fitted perpendicularly in a tin chest; a few yards of indiarubber waterproof sheeting, as temporary covering to collections in wet weather, or in crossing rivers; a set of carpenter’s tools.
An outfit may be much lightened by having all the provisions and other consumable articles packed in square tin cases, and in boxes and jars of such forms as may render them available for containing specimens. If the traveller is going to the humid regions of the Indian Archipelago, South-Eastern Asia, or tropical America, where excessive moisture, mildew, and ants are great enemies to the naturalist, he should add to his outfit two drying cages, for everything that is not put at once into spirits is liable to be destroyed before it is dry enough to be stowed away in boxes. They may be made of light wood, so arranged as to take to pieces and put together again readily; one for birds should be about 2ft. 6in. long by 1ft. 6in. high, and 1ft. broad; the other for insects and other small specimens may be about one-third less. They should have folding doors in front, having panels of perforated zinc, and the backs wholly of the latter material; the sides fitted with racks to hold six or eight plain shelves, which in the smaller cage should be covered with cork or any soft wood that may be obtained in tropical countries. A strong fixed ring, fastened in the top of the cage, with a cord having a hook attached to the end, by which to hang it in an airy place; it will keep the contained specimens out of harm’s way until they are quite dry, when they may be stowed away in close fitting boxes. If this plan be not adopted, it will be almost impossible to preserve specimens in these countries.
The countries which are now the least known with regard to their natural history are New Guinea and the large islands to the east of it, Northern Australia, the island of Borneo, Tibet, and other parts of Central Asia, Equatorial Africa, and the eastern side of the Andes, from the east of Bogota to the south of Bolivia.
Collecting.
In most of the better-known countries botany has been better investigated than zoology; and in most countries there still remains much to be done in ascertaining the exact station and the range both vertical and horizontal of known species. This leads us to one point which cannot be too strongly insisted on, namely, that some means should be adopted by the traveller to record the exact locality of the specimens he collects. In the larger-dried animals this may be done by written tickets attached to the specimens; in pinned insects a letter or number may be fixed on the pins of all specimens taken at one place and time, the mark to refer to a note book. The initial letter, or first two or three letters of the locality, is perhaps the readiest plan; and when all the specimens taken at one place can be put into a separate box, one memorandum upon the box itself will be sufficient. Reptiles and fishes can have small parchment tickets attached to them before placing them in spirits. A traveller may be puzzled in the midst of the profusion of animal and vegetable forms which he sees around him, to know what to secure and what to leave. Books can be of very little service to him on a journey, and he had better at once abandon all ideas of encumbering himself with them. A few days’ study at the principal museums before he starts on his voyage may teach him a great deal, and the cultivation of a habit of close observation and minute comparison of the specimens he obtains will teach him a great deal more. As a general rule, all species which he may meet with for the first time far in the interior should be preferred to those common near the civilised parts. He should strive to obtain as much variety as possible, and not fill his boxes and jars with quantities of specimens of one or a few species. But as some of the rarest and most interesting species have great resemblance to others which may be more common, he should avail himself of every opportunity of comparing the objects side by side. In most tropical countries the species found in open and semi-cultivated places are much less interesting than those inhabiting the interior of the forests; and it generally happens that the few handsome kinds which attract the attention of the natives are species well known in European museums.
In botany, a traveller, if obliged to restrict his collecting, might confine himself to those plants which are remarkable for their economical uses, always taking care to identify the flowers of the tree or shrub whose root, bark, leaves, wood, &c., are used by the natives, and preserving a few specimens of them. But, if he is the first to ascend any high mountain, he should make as general a collection of the flowering plants as possible at the higher elevations. The same may be said of insects found on mountains, where they occur in very great diversity; on the shady and cold sides rather than on the sunny slopes; under stones and about the roots of herbage, especially near springs; on shrubs and low trees, and so forth; for upon a knowledge of the plants and insects of mountain ranges depend many curious questions in the geographical distribution of forms over the earth.
In reptiles, the smaller Batrachia (frogs, salamanders, &c.) should not be neglected, especially the extremely numerous family of tree frogs. Lizards may be caught generally with the insect-sweeping net; the arboreal species, seen out of reach, may be brought down with a charge of dust shot. Snakes should be taken without injuring the head, which is the most important part of the body. A cleft stick may be used in securing them by the neck, and on reaching camp they may be dropped into the jars of spirits. As large a collection as possible should be made of the smaller fishes of inland lakes and unexplored rivers. Dr. Günther, of the British Museum, has authorised me to say that a traveller cannot fail to make a large number of interesting discoveries if he collects a few specimens of the species he meets with in the lakes and rivers of the interior of any country. It can scarcely be expected that specimens of the larger animals can be brought away by a geographical expedition, although some species are still desiderata in the large museums of Europe. Additional specimens of all genera, of which there are numerous closely-allied species (e.g., rhinoceros, antelopes, equus, &c.), would be very welcome for the better discrimination of the species. If only portions can be obtained, skulls are to be preferred. In humid tropical regions, entire skins cannot be dried in time to prevent decay, and it is necessary to place them, rolled up in a small compass, in spirits. The smaller mammals, of which there remain many to reward the explorer in almost all extra-European countries, may be skinned, dried, and packed in boxes in the same manner as birds. The smaller birds shot on an excursion should be carried to camp in the game bag, folded in paper, the wounds, mouth, and anus being first plugged with cotton. Powdered calcined gypsum will here be found very useful in absorbing blood from feathers, on account of the facility with which it can be afterwards cleared from the specimens. All plants, when gathered, are placed in the tin box which the traveller carries with him. Land and fresh water shells may be carried home in a bag. All hard-bodied insects, such as beetles, ants, and so forth should be placed, in collecting, in small bottles, each bottle having a piece of slightly-moistened rag placed within it, to prevent the insects from crowding and injuring each other. The hint previously given, with regard to numbers of specimens, must be repeated here. Take as great a variety of species as possible, the sweeping-net should be freely used (except in very wet weather) in sweeping and beating the herbage and lower trees. In collecting ants, it is necessary to open nests and secure the winged individuals of each species, which must be afterwards kept together with the wingless ones to secure the identification of the species. Bees and wasps may be caught in the net and then placed, by means of small forceps, in the collecting bottle, and afterwards killed in the same way as beetles and other hard-bodied insects. All soft-bodied insects should be killed on capture (by a slight pressure of the chest underneath the wings by thumb and finger), and then pinned in the pocket collecting box. If the traveller has leisure and inclination for the pursuit, he may readily make a large and varied collection of these, and will do good service to science if he notes carefully the exact localities of his captures, altitude above the sea, nature of country, the sexes of the species, if detected, and information on habits. The delicate species should be handled very carefully and put away into the drying cage immediately on return from an excursion. Spiders may be collected in bottles, and afterwards killed and pinned in the same way as other insects. Crustacea (shrimps, crawfish, &c.) in rivers and pools may be collected with the landing net, and afterwards well dried and pinned like hard-bodied insects, except when they are large in size, when their bodies must be opened, and emptied of their contents.