The Care of Alcoholic Collections of Small Invertebrates

Abstract

Small specimens can be stored safely in vials, tightly stoppered with cotton anid placed upside down in a larger jar, Due to the unavailability of tight jars, methods used in several instittions to prevent alcohol loss have been tried out. Either plastic tape (3M no. 472) or dipping in plastic coating (Uniroyal Adhesive no. 6273) appreciably slows evaporation. Seventy to eighty per cent alcohol is the best preservative; 40-70% isopropyl alcohol seems an excellent substitute, and is easily obtained. Methods of reconditioning dried specimens are controversial. All locality labels should be typed or mimeographed or the labels can be photo-offset, or Xerox copied on good bond paper. Although many of the specimens used by taxonomists and morphologists are kept in liquid preservative and require special containers, the problems connected with their preservation have received little attention in the United States. Exceptions are the important papers by Arndt (1937), and Mayr and Goodwin (1957), and the SSZsponsored report by Storey and Wilimovsky (1955). This article deals with the preservation of small invertebrate animals, especially spiders, that is, with specimens kept in vials as opposed to vertebrates and some invertebrates kept in larger containers.