wire, exposing the contents of the vials to view. The ends of the tray are a little higher than the tops of the corked bottles, to protect the corks from being ac- cidentally dislodged. They also serve as handles for lifting the tray out of the shallow drawer in which it is stored. Some "M.C.Z." racks are made double, with a wooden partition in the middle and wires on either side. These contain two rows of vials. There are no partitions between the individual bottles in the row. When the rack is not full, the bottles are held in position by a large pin driven into the wooden side horizontally, just above the wire, as the picture indicates. Fig. 3. illustrates another and even more efficient way to store a large collection of alcoholic specimens. A B Fig. 4. A., corner of A.M.N.H. rack, showing metal binding. B., top of vial, showing how wire is twisted around the neck to form a hook. It was invented and first used at the American Museum of Natural History. The creatures are kept in homeo- pathic vials. Around the neck of each vial is a collar of soft iron or copper wire prolonged into a hook, as you may see at "B" in Fig. 4. By means of these hooks, the vials are suspended in rows from vertical racks made of half-inch mesh galvanized wire screen. The rectangular mesh panels are bound around the edges with thin sheet metal. See "A" in Fig. 4. They are made to slide in grooves cut in the upper and under surfaces of the heavy wooden shelves with which the storage cabinets are provided. Since the slots need be no more than an inch and a half apart, and each panel will carry several rows of bottles, the capacity of such a cabinet is very great. A bottled collection which must lie idle for long may very wisely be stored in pint canning jars as shown in Fig. 5. Remove the corks from the vials and replace them with cotton plugs. Cover the bottom of a pint canning jar with a thin cushion of cotton. Pack the vials into the jar, upright and as snugly as possible. Put on the rubber ring, fill the jar with alcohol, and clamp down the lid. Though years pass before you look at them again, specimens so stored will be moist and perfect when wanted. Animals which have been preserved in alcohol should never be allowed to dry out. Unless your col- lection is "canned," inspect it at least once in six months, filling the bottles and replacing defective corks. When you want to study a specimen, remove it from its bottle with forceps and put it into a watch- glass or other small dish full of alcohol. Very little specimens can be transferred more easily by sucking them out of the container with a medicine dropper, fluid and all. A specimen which has accidentally dried can be relaxed by soaking in warm water, but it will never entirely regain its former appearance. A drop of some detergent or "wetting agent" such as Aerosol OT, applied directly to the specimen before covering it with water, will hasten the softening and frequently restores plumpness. 4 Fig. 5. Bottled arthropods stored in a pint canning jar, to prevent drying-out.