<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:#000000">Tonya,</div><div dir="ltr">Thank you f<span class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)">or your kind words about my book. The recommendation for staging up to 80% concentration was by made by my friend Simon Moore, who I cited in that sentence. In general, I do not recommend using 80% ETOH as a preservative for terrestrial vertebrates, but rather 70%. Preservation is alcohol is a trade-off between dehydration of the specimens and providing them suitable protection against biological deterioration. At 70%, ETOH is a very good biocide; below that, not so good, and above 70%, too strong for most specimens (note that there are some instances in which 80% might be preferred). <br></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><br></span></div><div><span class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)">I do not recommend using stronger alcohol as a hedge against evaporation--that leads to uneven concentrations of preservatives and can be a real mess to work with in a collection.</span></div><div><span class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><br></span></div><div><span class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)">For how-to instructions on preserving, transferring specimens, and managing a fluid preserved collection, you might want to check <i>Herpetological Collecting and Collections Management</i> (3rd edition, 2015). The instructions for preserving and managing fluid preserved animals will work for most other specimens as well as for reptiles and amphibians.<br></span></div><div><span class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><br></span></div><div><span class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)">Hope this helps,</span></div><div><span class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)">--John<br></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)"></span><font size="2"><span style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif"><br></span></font></div><div dir="ltr"><font size="2"><span style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif"><span class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)">J</span>ohn E. Simmons<br>Writer and Museum Consultant</span></font></div><div><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><font size="2"><span style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif">Museologica<br><i>and</i><br>Associate Curator of Collections<br>Earth and Mineral Science Museum & Art Gallery<br>Penn State University<br><i>and</i><br>Investigador Asociado, Departamento de Ornitologia<br>Museo de Historia Natural, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Lima</span></font><br></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><br></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Thu, May 6, 2021 at 4:05 PM Haff, Tonya (NCMI, Crace) <Tonya.Haff@csiro.au> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
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Hello all,</div>
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I am enjoying reading John Simmon's fantastic book on fluid preservation. In it I read one suggestion for stepping specimens up out of formalin fixative into preservation alcohol as follows: from 20% ETOH to 40% to 60% and finally to 80%. We typically place
our specimens in 70% ETOH, and I know higher concentrations can cause some problems with specimen dehydration. All our specimens are terrestrial vertebrates. I presume the final 80% provides a buffer against ETOH evaporation or leaching of water from the specimen
into the fluid in the jar, to ensure that the alcohol concentration in the preservation fluid stays sufficiently high? But to me this is not quite clear. I wonder if any of you have thoughts on this, or if you would be willing to share how you step your specimens
up in ETOH? </div>
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Thank you!</div>
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Tonya</div>
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