CHAPTEE XXV. 

 MOUNTING REPTILES. 



OPHIDIA : The Serpents. There are several methods of mount- 

 ing 1 snakes, but only one that I can recommend. Such pro- 

 cesses as ramming 1 a rubber-like snake skin full of sawdust, or 

 cotton, or tow, are to be mentioned only to be condemned. In 

 my opinion, the only proper way to mount a serpent is to 

 make a manikin of tow, carefully wound on a wire and after- 

 ward shaped with thread, and cover it with clay at the finish. 

 It is necessary to attach small wires to the body-wire at given 

 intervals, so that they can be passed down through the pedes- 

 tal, and afford a means by which a finished specimen may be 

 drawn down and made to lie natiirally. 



A manikin for a large snake, like an anaconda or python, is 

 best made of excelsior, and its exact form secured by sewing- 

 through it with a needle. In the field notes printed in Chapter 

 ,111. something may be learned of the form of the python. 



If a snake is " stuffed," it stretches the scales apart most un- 

 naturally, and never looks like life. For this reason, the clay- 

 covered manikin is necessary, in order that any excess of skin 

 may be modeled down upon it, and the scales be made to form 

 an unbroken covering. 



LACERTILIA: The Lizards. With the exception of the iguana, 

 the gila monster, mastigure, and a few others, the lizards are so 

 small and slender, and have tails so tapering out into thin air 

 that they are altogether too small to be mounted by the ordi- 

 nary methods of taxidermy. The finest method ever devised 

 for the preservation and display of small reptiles and batrachi- 

 ans is that adopted by the Museum of Comparative Zoology, 

 Cambridge, Mass. Each specimen is preserved in clear spirits 

 in a jar by itself, and instead of being dropped in head first to 



