210 TAXIDERMY AND ZOOLOGICAL COLLECTING. 



the integument, and curing whatever particles of flesh may 

 chance to remain in the skull. 



After having removed the skin, it must be cleaned most 

 carefully. With a keen-bladed knife, pare and scrape off all 

 the adherent flesh from the skin, cut out the gills, and remove 

 the flesh from the interior of the skull, and the base of the fins. 

 Of course the eyes must come out also. "With a stout pair of 

 scissors trim off the projecting bases of the rays of the dorsal 

 and anal fins, so that the fin itself may set squarely upon the 

 top of the centre-board. 



I will now describe, step by step, the entire process of mount- 

 ing a fish by what I consider the simplest, easiest, and most 

 practical method known. Be advised in the beginning, how- 

 ever, that you can not mount fishes on nice brass standards with 

 nothing at all in the way of special materials and tools. You 

 must have an assortment of hard brass wire, Nos. 3 to 10, a 

 hack-saw, some brass rosettes, a small die for cutting threads 

 on brass wire, and taps of corresponding sizes for cutting 

 threads in the brass nuts and rosettes. The outfit is by no 

 means expensive, but it is indispensable if you wish to mount 

 your specimens on standards, and thus have them show off to 

 the finest advantage. 



1. Procure a piece of soft wood, pine preferred, and with the 

 skinned body of the fish before you, whittle the wood down to 

 the general shape of the body, but one-fourth smaller in actual 

 size. In Plate IV. the outline a, b, c represents the wooden 

 centre-board, which is really the foundation upon which the 

 mounted specimen is to be constructed. 



2. Prepare two small brass standards (e, e), and screw the up- 

 per end of each firmly into a gimlet-hole bored into the centre- 

 board at d, d. At the lower end of each standard the thread 

 should be cut for a little more than an inch of its length, 

 and a turned brass rosette screwed on, to rest on top of the 

 pedestal, and hold the rod from slipping down through the 

 hole. Underneath the pedestal a square nut is screwed on 

 tightly. These rods should be exactly perpendicular, and the 

 axis of the fish (an imaginary line running lengthwise through 

 the centre of the bulk), should be as nearly as possible hori- 

 zontal. A fish mounted with its tail too high in the air seems 



