And now they're

also souvenirs!

A good many of those destructive crown of thorns starfish may end up as decorations in homes. Mr. J.

Pepys-Cockerell, a local man, has written to the Solomon Islands* Chamber of Commerce suggesting this as an idea of getting rid of the starfish and making a little money at the same time. He says they might make “souvenirs for tourists visiting the Solomons”.

He also offered this recipe, in the chamber bulletin, for drying the starfish.

Place the starfish (assuming you have the agility to catch one) in a large basin of salt water. Add plenty of magnesium sulphate (Epsom salts) to anaesthetize it. After an hour or so, take it out and put it in a basin of 40 per cent, formalin. Leave three or four days, then dry—but not in the sun, it might change its colour.

In the Pacific climate, this can simply be done by placing the star fish in a fuel drum with a very slow fire over it; or more simply, keep it in a closed container with silica-gel. Rubber gloves are advisable when dealing with formalin, as irrigation under the finger nails can set in.

While on the subject of drying-up, the BSIP Chamber of Commerce has been told that dried beetles are in big demand in the US. People wishing to export some from their territory to the States should get in touch with the chamber. • Australian and French interests which proposed to the New Hebrides government a $1 million-plus coconut oil crushing mill at either Santo or Vila late last year are still awaiting answers ( PIM, Jan., p. 116). A spokesman for one of the investors said, “the silence is deafening”.