MOUNTING REPTILES. 



203 



sink or swim, and tie itself into a bow-knot if it can, the reptile 

 is placed (in the flesh) on a thin, rectangular slab of plaster 

 Paris or cement, of the tint best suited to the display of the 

 specimen. The object is placed 

 in a life-like attitude and held 

 in place by threads which pass 

 through holes in the slab and 

 tie the feet down securely. 

 The accompanying 1 illustration 

 (Fig. 54), drawn from a speci- 

 men, and the following de- 

 scription, both of which have 

 been kindly furnished me by 

 Mr. Samuel Garman, Curator 

 of Reptiles, Museum of Com- 

 parative Zoology, will enable 

 any intelligent preparator to 

 adopt this admirable method: 



" It was in 1875 we began to 

 mount the reptiles and ba- 

 trachiaus of the Museum of 

 Comparative Zoology on tab- 

 lets, in alcohol. Before that 

 date they had been stuffed and 

 dried, a method which proved 

 rather unsatisfactory, especially 

 so in regard to color, and the 

 shrivelling of digits and tails. 

 However- varied at first, the 

 appearance soon became uni- 

 form and dusty. Mounting in 

 the alcohol does away with the 

 most serious objections ; we 

 can give the specimens life-like 

 attitudes, or arrange them in 

 groups as if playing, courting, or fighting ; and the liquid height- 

 ens their beauty, as the water does that of the pebble at the s- -.!- 

 shore, while ravages of insects are entirely out of the question. 



" The tablets are made of plaster Paris, or if a harder one with 



Fio. 54. Method of Mounting Alcoholic Rep- 

 tiles at the Museum of Comparative Zouloiry. 



