Page:Beautiful·Shells·of·New·Zealand-Moss-1908.pdf/19

 The greatest trouble is getting the animal out of live shells. Anthills are few and small in New Zealand, so the lazy man’s method of putting shells on an anthill, and letting the insects do the work, is impracticable. Boiling for a minute will not hurt the stronger and heavier shells; but even pouring boiling water on the more delicate shells will cause them in time to fade. After taking the shells out of the boiling water, let them cool, and then place them in cold, fresh water for a couple of days in summer or for a week in winter, changing the water every day. The animal can then usually be removed with a bradawl, or, better still, a sail needle stuck into a cork. Although soaking in fresh water for a few days makes the animal slip out more easily, still a large proportion will break during extraction. The piece left behind must also be extracted, or the shell will be offensive. The coarser shells can be buried for a few months in sandy soil, or for a few weeks on a sandy beach below high water mark, or put in baskets or bags made of twine or netting, and placed in tidal pools, or fastened to stakes at low water mark, where the marine insects will quickly do their share of the work. Or they may be buried in a boxful of clean sand or sandy soil, and the sand kept moist by watering it every few days. The box is all the better for being put away in a damp place under a tree, or on the shady side of a building or fence. This, however, is a slow process, and if the specimens are required at once, the best way is to extract all you can of the animal by the hot water and soaking process, and then keep the shell half-full of water in a shady place, every morning holding it under a water tap and shaking it carefully. After each shaking a very little pure muriatic acid may be put into the shell, and when all the effervescing from the acid is over, wash and shake it again. Two or three mornings of this treatment should clean the shell. The more delicate shells will lose their colour if put into boiling water, so first put the boiling water in a basin and then place the shells in it. Nearly all salt water shellfish, if soaked for a few hours in fresh water, will die. The only exceptions I know of are the Nerita and Littorina, families which are semi-amphibious. The best way to remove coral or vegetable growths from shells is to leave them for a few weeks, or if very hard, for a few months, in a shady place, where the wind and rain can get at them, but not the sun. The growths will then be sufficiently soft to be scraped off with a piece of hard wood or a knife, or rubbed off with sand. It is a good plan to oil or paste calico