136 TAXIDERMY AND ZOOLOGICAL COLLECTING. 



board consisted in leaving- a long 4 end projecting 1 , bending 1 it like 

 the letter U, and stapling 1 it to the board. That was always a 

 poor way, and in the light of a perfect arrangement it now 

 seems poorer than ever. 



When Mr. John Martens came over from Hamburg 1 to work as 

 a mammal taxidermist in Professor H. A. Ward's great Natural 

 Science Establishment, at Kochester, N. Y., the most valuable 

 luggage he broug-ht with him was the idea of the iron square 

 for attaching 1 leg 1 irons to a centre board. For that particular 

 purpose it would be hard to devise a more perfect arrangement, 

 and I shall be at some pains to describe it. 



It requires four irons to fasten the legs to the centre board, 

 one for each leg, and to make a set for an animal the size of a 

 large mountain sheep ram, proceed as follows : 



Procure four pieces of flat bar iron, of an inch thick, l or 

 1| inch wide, and 9 inches long. At a point 3| inches from 

 one end, bend each iron at a perfect right angle, which, of 

 course, can only be done by heating it. Now heat the short 

 arm red hot, clamp the end of it in a vise, and make a twist of 

 exactly a quarter of a turn in the short arm, as close up to the 

 angle as you can. This will make the end of the short arm 

 stand out in a horizontal plane against the side of the body 

 board. 



At the end of the short arm, with its centre exactly 3 inches 

 from the inner face of the long arm, drill or punch a hole of the 

 right size to receive the threaded end of the leg iron, but no 

 larger. (For our Ovis montana ram it should be half an inch in 

 diameter.) File off the sharp corners of this end. 



At a point about lj inch from the inner angle of the square, 

 and in the long arm, drill a hole about T \ or | an inch in dia- 

 meter, for a stout bolt to pass through. Between that and the 



end of the long arm, drill (or 

 punch) two screw-holes, and 

 countersink them. That is all 

 there is to the making of the 

 square, and the accompanying 



FIG. 31. An Iron Square. ._. 



cut (Fig. 31) accurately repre- 

 sents it. Each pair of squares is put on with a single square- 

 headed bolt, the length of which varies according to the thick- 



