130 TAXIDERMY AND ZOOLOGICAL COLLECTING. 



larger animals require leg wires or irons that are too large to be 

 bent at will and twisted together. (2.) AY here rods are used, n 

 thread must be cut on the lower end of each to receive a nut 

 under the pedestal, because leg rods can not be fastened in any 

 other way. (3.) A stout wooden bar must be used in the body 

 for the leg, head, and tail wires, or irons, to run through, and 

 i:pon which all these can be stapled down firmly. (4.) For 

 various reasons, it is best that all these animals should be filled 

 Avith straw by the old process of stuffing. 



To mount a specimen belonging in this section, proceed pre- 

 cisely as directed in the previous chapter, with wiring and 

 making each leg, except where the specimen is so large that it 

 requires rods for the legs instead of wires. It is only the 

 larger and heavier animals of this section, viz., the wolves, 

 large dogs, large kangaroos, anthropoid apes, and the like, that 

 require rods instead of wires. For your foxes, baboons, and 

 small kangaroos, you can use wires of the large sizes, of about 

 the same proportionate length as for your squirrel. In getting 

 out the rods for the legs of your large specimens, use Norway 

 iron, because it is toughest, and proceed as follows : 



Decide upon the attitude of your specimen, then lay the bones 

 of each leg in its intended position on the table, take a straight 

 wire of large size (No. 9) and bend it to fit the back of the leg 

 bones, precisely where you wish your rod to go. Leave an end 

 about two and one-half inches long, projecting straiyht downward 

 from the centre of the foot, to go through the pedestal and re- 

 ceive a nut underneath. Cut a thread on this lower end, and fit a 

 hexagonal nut. For the hind legs, let the upper end of each rod 

 project beyond the upper end of the femur for a distance equal 

 to about two-thirds the length of that bone. The irons to sup- 

 port the head should be two in number, and should be long 

 enough to reach from the end of the nose to the centre of the 

 body. The tail iron will be regulated by circumstances. 



THE HAND OF AN ANTHROPOID APE. It nearly always happens 

 tha,t every skin of a large gorilla, chimpanzee, or orang utau is 

 totally destitute of bones. Now the hand of such an animal is 

 a very important feature. Do not attempt to make it with wires 

 and tow alone, for if you do, the fingers will be semicircles, re 

 sembling the half of an over-brown doughnut. Each joint must 



