5 a NATURALISTS' ASSISTANT. 



duplicated. It is convenient to have the catalogues subdi- 

 vided into groups corresponding to the larger divisions of the 

 animal kingdom, others for minerals, fossils, etc. The cards 

 can then be kept in drawers or trays and any necessary in- 

 terpolations can be made as desired. Cards suitable for this 

 can be obtained of standard sizes at the Readers' and Writers' 

 Economy stores in Boston, New York and other large cities. 



MOUNTING SPECIMENS FOR EXHIBITION. 



Mammals and birds designed for exhibition are usually 

 stuffed and mounted on stands. It does not fall within the 

 scope of this work to describe the methods employed by the 

 taxidermist in stuffing skins. It is well enough, however, to 

 reiterate the advice given on another page that the stand em- 

 ployed should be as simple as possible and all mica dust, 

 moss and artificial leaves be discarded as they detract greatly 

 from the appearance of a collection when viewed from a 

 scientific standpoint. On the underside of each stand, all 

 information regarding the specimen should be written with 

 a soft lead pencil, paint or India ink. Skeletons and skulls 

 should be supported on wires firmly fixed at their lower end 

 in a board. Ward's preparations are models in this respect. 



Birds' eggs may be kept in the nest in which they belong. 

 Should the nest be wanting, the eggs present a very hand- 

 some appearance when placed in paper trays lined with pink 

 cotton wool. The most common method, however, is to 



