[NHCOLL-L:5872] Re: Curation Tactic Inquiries

[Couteaufin at aol.com]

Dear All,
 
I would agree with Dirk in that the staining, now diluted, looks like  
picric acid base as found in Bouin's fix.  There is another fixative known  as 
Alcoholic Bouin or Dubosq-Brasil's fixative which might have been another  
possibility for the orriginal fixative.
As to the spicules problem, I would put all of the vials, with nylon lids,  
into a larger container to prevent evaporation.  This technique I have been 
 using for about 20 years but not with spicules admittedly and Dirk's 
suggestion  may be better, although it seems rather more labour intensive.
 
With all good  wishes, Simon

Simon Moore MIScT, FLS, ACR,
Conservator of Natural  Sciences,

_www.natural-history-conservation.com_ 
(http://www.natural-history-conservation.com/)  
_www.pocket-fruit-knives.info_ (http://www.pocket-fruit-knives.info/)  

_http://uk.linkedin.com/in/naturalsciencespecimenconserve_ 
(http://uk.linkedin.com/in/naturalsciencespecimenconserve)   


In a message dated 06/03/2012 08:16:45 GMT Standard Time,  
Dirk.Neumann at zsm.mwn.de writes:

Dear  Kathy, Phyllis

this definitely looks like Bouins fixation. It might be  possible that 
the specimens (or part of the originally Bouins fixed  specimens) have 
been transferred into an other preservative/ethanol, which  results in a 
more or less (faintly) stained preservative due to Bouins  dissolving 
from these specimens.

For the spicules, you could either  place high quality plastic vials 
inside the jar containing the  corresponding specimens to avoid 
evaporation losses. Especially cheap  plastic vials and designed vials 
designed for cryogenic storage tend to  have massive evaporation problems 
at ambient temperatures. Other  possibility would be storage in 
borosilicate glass tubes and close tubes  with cotton-stoppers wrapped 
with Japanese tissue paper. Medical cotton  following DIN 61 640-A should 
be preferred as this cotton does not include  any additives. This method 
is recommended by the colleagues from the  Museum of Natural History in 
Berlin.

This and further  recommendations have been published by Birger Neuhaus 
Et al.  in an  project report recently, however results are currently 
available only in  German @  
http://193.175.110.9/hornemann/german/epubl_txt/2012Neuhaus_KUR.pdf

Soda  lime glass tubes have a very reactive alkaline surface and hence it 
should  be avoided to place tiny / delicate specimens in such tubes 
because of the  bad object / tube surface ratio.

Hope this  helps

Dirk



Am 06.03.2012 01:46, schrieb Phyllis  Sun:
> HERE YOU GOOOOOOO
>
>
>  Greetings,
>
> My name is Kathy and I'm a curatorial manager at  the Natural History
> Museum of LA County at the Marine Biodiversity  Center. While going
> through and re-curating older sections of our  collections, I ran
> across two rather odd occurrences and am seeking  some advice.
>
> The first is this bright lime green solution in a  number of jars
> preserving specimens. At first, I thought it might be  Bouins, but
> Bouins tends to be more yellow based while this is  radioactive green.
> Does anybody have any idea what liquid is being  used? Perhaps Bouins
> mixed with something? The data on the jars are  not that informative,
> only containing either a station number or  species name. Some
> specimens found have been zooplankton, parasitic  isopods, and
> euphausiid frags, but there's no real pattern. A picture  of one of the
> jars is attached.
>
> My second question  regards sponges. We had a visiting scientist did
> some research work on  some sponges we have. He separated the spicules
> entirely from the  sponge and preserved them in a tiny 2mL plastic
> screw-top vials. The  vials contain only the spicules themselves, no
> tissue at all. The  problem is the alcohol levels recedes rather
> quickly in the 2mL vials  and I'm wary of putting them in a
> cotton-stopped glass vials since  there's a chance the spicules will
> get stuck in the cotton. Does  anybody know of a better procedure?
>
> Please let me know, I'd  appreciate any help or advice.
>
> Best,
>
> Kathy  Omura
>
>
>


-- 
Dirk Neumann

Tel: 089 /  8107-111
Fax: 089 / 8107-300
email:  Dirk.Neumann(a)zsm.mwn.de

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---------

Dirk  Neumann

Tel: +49-89-8107-111
Fax: +49-89-8107-300
email:  Dirk.Neumann(a)zsm.mwn.de

postal address:

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