204 TAXIDERMY AND ZOOLOGICAL COLLECTING 



finer finish is desired, of cement mixed with water and spread 

 011 a glass plate to set. Holes are bored through them wher- 

 ever necessary to fasten the specimen, which is simply tied on. 

 With the tints used in fresco painting they are colored to suit. 

 Experiments now under way convince me there is less fading 

 on plates of certain colors than on the white ones. For black 

 tablets, common slate is good. A mixture of plaster and ce- 

 ment makes a fine quality." 



The larger lizards are generally so round and plump-bodied 

 they may very properly be mounted with tow and clay legs, and 

 a body-filling of clean and soft chopped tow, the same as small 

 mammals. If one is encountered which has a high, sharp, 

 spinal crest, which cannot be reproduced with loose filling^, then 

 it is necessary to make the legs and tail, wire all together, and 

 make an excelsior manikin in two halves, so that each side may 

 be inserted in the body independently, and then the two may 

 be sewed together and covered with clay as necessary. 



At Professor Ward's celebrated establishment I once saw Mr. 

 Webster remove the entire skeleton from a Hatteria punctata, a 

 rare New Zealand lizard about sixteen inches in length, replace 

 the leg bones and skull with wooden counterfeits, and success- 

 fully mount the skin. This was quite a feat, and was the only 

 instance of the kind that ever came to my knowledge. The chief 

 difficulty lay in removing 1 the skull from the skin, which grew 

 tightly upon it, and in successfully replacing it with a wooden 

 imitation. 



CKOCODILIA: TJie Crocodiles and Alligators. These great sau- 

 rians thick-hided, case-hardened, and always fat require no 

 carefully made manikins, no clay save in the small, ones, nor 

 very gentle treatment of any kind, unless the specimens happen 

 to be young and tender. Small crocodilians should be mounted 

 in the same way as the larger lizards, using clay next to the skin 

 of the body and tail. I once achieved success with a tiny alli- 

 gator, and delighted its bereaved owner, by filling it with clay 

 on a core of excelsior, and modeling the form into perfect shape. 



Large saurians should be mounted on the same general plan 

 as wolves and small bears, viz., by cutting the leg-irons long, 

 passing the inner ends through a rather small centre board, 

 bonding' them down to the wood, and fastening with staples. Of 



