[Nhcoll-l] specimens in glycerol

[John E Simmons]

If the specimens have been in glycerol for a long time and are in good
condition, there is no reason to change them. Switching soft tissues to
alcohol will cause some dehydration and shrinkage, so I recommend keeping
them in glycerol.

My preference is to get smooth-sided vials (commonly called shell vials)
and use polyester fiber to make the plugs, rather than cotton. The
advantages of polyester are that it does not absorb grease like cotton
does, does not yellow with age, and it has better regain (meaning it does
not become permanently compressed like cotton does). You can find polyester
fiber for sale in fabric stores, it is used as pillow stuffing.

Do not put so many vials in the jar that it is hard to find the one you
want, and include a label listing all of the vials. Use a good screw-top
glass jar with a flexible polypropylene lid and the system will work well.

--John

John E. Simmons
Writer and Museum Consultant
Museologica
*and*
Associate Curator of Collections
Earth and Mineral Science Museum & Art Gallery
Penn State University
*and*
Investigador Asociado, Departamento de Ornitologia
Museo de Historia Natural, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Lima


On Thu, Feb 24, 2022 at 10:22 PM Haff, Tonya (NCMI, Crace) <
Tonya.Haff at csiro.au> wrote:

> Hello all,
>
>
>
> I am wondering if any of you would give me your thoughts on what the best
> way to keep very small soft parts (I’m thinking bat bacula and bird
> tongues) that have been stored in very small vials in glycerol. I would
> like to store them together in larger jars filled with preservation fluid,
> with wadding instead of lids on each vial, both for space reasons and to
> prevent evaporation (the glycerol is pretty good but I have found a few
> that have dried out). My feeling is that if I do this, the preservation
> fluid should remain glycerol, but as I haven’t done this before I thought
> I’d ask. Is there reason to switch the preservation fluid to something
> else, like 70% ETOH (which would involve changing the fluid in each vial),
> or is it ok to simply top the larger jar with glycerol? Any thoughts
> appreciated.
>
>
>
> Cheers,
>
>
>
> Tonya
>
>
>
> -------------------------------------------------
>
> Dr. Tonya M. Haff
>
> Collection Manager
>
> Australian National Wildlife Collection
>
> CSIRO
>
>
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