214 TAXIDERMY AND ZOOLOGICAL COLLECTING. 



of skin is to give the skin an appearance of entirety and ro- 

 tundity, rather than flatness such as would be the case if an 

 exact half were represented. The head of the fish must be 

 sawn through with a fine saw, and, of course, the observance of 

 the directions already given will leave the dorsal and anal fins 

 on the portion to be exhibited. 



Having carefully skinned, cleaned, and preserved the portion 

 to be> exhibited, the centre-board is cut out with a short bevel 

 on the inside, and on the other the full shape of one side of the 

 fish. When this fits the skin properly, the right quantity of 

 clay is put upon it, the skin is then put on, and fastened at the 

 back according to circumstances. With a small fish, the edges 

 of the skin may be sewn together from top to bottom, across 

 the exposed surface of the centre board, but with large speci- 

 mens it is best to nail the edges to the board. 



MOUNTING CARTILAGINOUS FISHES : Sharks, rays, saw-fish, etc. 

 The only failures I have ever made during my thirteen years of 

 taxidermic work have been with subjects of this class. I call 

 them failures because, after taking infinite pains and mounting 

 my specimens to the complete satisfaction of all concerned, the 

 best ones, the very ones I had considered most perfect when 

 finished, for two or three years afterward continued to shrink 

 and shrink, until the skin burst open, and the tail and fins 

 warped out of shape by the same process until it was madden- 

 ing to look upon them. 



I once spent a week of diligent labor in mounting over a 

 clay-covered excelsior manikin the skin of a ten-and-a-half foot 

 gray shark (Hexanchus griseus), which came to me in the flesh. 

 It was a beautiful specimen, and I mounted it according to 

 elaborate measurements, and a cast of the head. The result 

 was all that could be desired. Three years later that shark 

 was a sight to behold. Around the body, just back of the gill 

 openings, the skin had burst open in a crack an inch wido. 

 The tail had been ripped open by the terrible strain of shrink- 

 age, so had the seam underneath the belly, and at first the dam- 

 age seemed beyond repair. We did repair it, however, very 

 fairly, but to me the specimen has ever since been an eyesore. 



By the bitterest of experiences I have learned that a shark, 

 ray, or saw-fish is bound to keep shrinking and shrinking, in 



