Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-09-07

anu are VI Inc 8auQleSt hue or the new
fashionable shade OF magenta. Indeed IT
is hard to believe some milliners sup
plies have not gone astray and landed
here in these Jars Of alcohol.
Then there Is a whole colony Of gay
objects whose names suggest the kitchen
side the army Of squids, sea mice and the
octopus. squfila shrimp, prawns and the
wonderful coral so unlike the average
museum display of ungainly bleached
bones. Here is coral of every shape and
tint some veritable rainbow of color
and as graceful as nature can make
them Many of them show the little
animals fully expanded. an idea Of their
real appearance never before obtained.
Sponges are usually associated in the
mind with the ugly wire baskets Of the
toilet articles seen in the drug stores, SO
to see the tall basket sponges fully as
large as an Office waste basket and the
same shape, the delicately turned vase
sponges and the myriads Of others, green
bread sponses from Long Island yellow
ones. red ones and black ones from all
up and down the Atlantic seacoast IL q
liberal education.
X
The starfish in another riot of bril-
liant color. One twelve-pointed star, the
size of the largest sunfower center, would
put passion flower to shame in its
magnificent blendings. They range In all
the tints of the rainbow, from white
through all the lemons, oranges. pinks,
reds and vtolets to a deep rich black
purple which looks as though 1t might
be made Of royal hued velvet, SO ex-
quisitely has the artist tinted it.
This new departure in the exhibition
line which is creating so much attention
10 rlr
not the least of which is the painstaking
care required both as to the catching the
fauna. learning their natural appearance
in life and also the infinite pains neces-
sary to not overdo the finished product,
which very frequently is only satisfac-
tory after countless experiments and
efforts In each step Of the prep
aration of these marine specimens for
the exhibit. Difficulty attends the catch
ing and getting them ready for shipment
as perfect specimens are, of course, the
only kind desired.
DR.. Bartsch, who has made many ex-
petitions in search of fauna, explained
the methods followed by him and his
as follows:
1.-The catching is done in all sorts OF
ways. nets and seins being most COM
monty used when working near the sur
face. For the deep sea, to gather In the
free swimming material. submarine
SO. These attract the fish and they will
follow the lights through the water as
they are steadily drawn up until the
specimens are near enough to the top to
be dipped in nets.
Picks shovels and spades come into
play when deep sand or mud specimens
are the object of the search, and for the
tiny Inhabitants of shallow and sandy
waters very fine seive Is used, held
under water until the sand washes out
ITO the eye Of the naturalist the most
bit Of territory
from the viewpoint of the person not
versed in the secrets of nature Is rich
in material. Every bit Of barren cliff
and all the hooks and crannies in the
rocky reefs. the long sandy beaches,
dead in their lonesomeness, and the
most dismal of the mud flats are fertile
fields for the searcher.
Catching the large crustaceans is al
ways exciting because of the danger of
being severely nipped, but the squids
and the octopus are the meanest to
handle. In addition to being swift as
lightning. they are endowed with the
ability to go backward as readily as
forward. and when finally caught they
get even by suffering a sepia -colored
Iiuid all over the captor The fluid re-
sists all the best efforts Of the laun-
dress to remove
las the sea creatures are caught
they are placed in pans, taken to the
laboratory, sorted, and then they are
stupeffed by means Of different agents,
such as cocaine, common EPSON salts,
ETC., SO that each specimen may be
fully expanded and stretched out. This
requires anywhere from a few minutes
in the case Of the higher organisms,
which are the easiest to kill, to three
days and more for the lower forms
Take, for instance, the beautiful sea
anemone; the killing agent must be in
creased very gradually and easily. as
the slightest jar to the vessel would
cause the animal to contract itself
into a tight round ball with all Of its
beauty hidden.
again there are organisms SO very
delicate that they Immediately melt in
the preservative. and experiment after
experiment must be made before even
one perfect specimen is obtained. This
is often the case with jelly fish and sea
nettles. Animals closely related often
require entirely opposite treatment, SO