Note 322 — Chapter VIII · THE DIGESTIVE ORGANS, JAW, AND RADULA: EXCRETORY ORGANS

The whole of the radulae and jaws figured in this work are taken from the original specimens in the collection of the Rev. Prof. H. M. Gwatkin, who has always been ready to give me the run of his cabinets, which probably contain the finest series of radulae in the world. To his kindness I owe the following description of the process of mounting: “The first step is to obtain the radula. Dissection is easy in species of a reasonable size. On opening the head from above, so as to lay open the floor of the mouth, the radula itself is seen in most of the marine species, though in others it is contained in a sort of proboscis; and in the Pulmonata and others the student will find the buccal mass, with commonly a brown mandible at its front end, and the lingual ribbon in its hinder part. The teeth may be recognised by their silvery whiteness, except in a few cases like Patella and Chiton, where they are of a deep brown colour. When obtained, the radula may be cleaned by boiling in a solution of caustic potash. There is no risk of injury if the solution is not too strong.

“Smaller species may be treated more summarily. The proboscis, the buccal mass, or even the whole animal may be thrown into the potash solution and boiled till scarcely anything is left but the cleaned radula. Remains of animals dried inside the shell may be similarly dealt with, after soaking in clean water. With a little care, this process will answer for shells down to the size of Ancylus or Rissoa. The very smallest (Carychium, Tornatellina, Skenea, etc.) must be crushed on the slide and boiled on it, after removing as much as possible of the broken shell. The radula can then be searched for under the microscope, and washed and mounted on the slide.

“The student must be warned that though the general process is simple, there are difficulties in particular cases. In the Pulmonata, for example, membranes on both sides of the radula need careful removal. Murex, Purpura, and most of the Taenioglossa have the side teeth folded down over the central, so that the arrangement is not well seen till they have been brushed back. The Cones, again, have no basal membrane at all, so that if the potash is not used with great care, the single teeth will fall asunder and be lost. Perhaps the worst case is where a large animal has a radula as small as that of a Rissoa, like Turritella, Harpa, or Struthiolaria, or where the radula is almost filmy in its transparency, like those of Actaeon and the small Scalaria.

“When once the radula is laid out, the mounting is commonly easy. Canada balsam makes it too transparent. Fluids may be used, and are almost necessary for thick radulae like those of large Chitons; but the best general medium is glycerine jelly. It runs under the cover glass by capillary attraction, and may be boiled (though only for a moment) to get rid of air bubbles. It should then be left unfinished for several weeks. If cracks appear, the reason is either that the jelly is a bad sample, or that it has been boiled too long, or (commonly) that the object is too thick; and there is not often any difficulty in remounting. I have no serious complaint of want of permanence against the medium, if I may speak from a pretty wide experience during the last twenty years.”