MOUNTING FISHES. 215 



both length and circumference, from the day it is finished to 

 the crack of doom. The fins and tail ivill warp and twist out of 

 shape, and I defy any man to prevent it. Since finding it im- 

 possible to mount a fish of this class substantially, and have it 

 retain its original size, I have adopted a plan which allows 

 shrinkage. The rod which supports the tail is fastened to the 

 centre-board by two staples so loosely that when the strain of 

 shrinkage comes upon it, it will gradually slip through the 

 staples and allow the specimen to shorten instead of bursting. 



It is best not to mount a shark too well. Stuff it with soft 

 straw instead of making a firm manikin, and do not fill the 

 body any harder than is necessary to secure smoothness. As 

 the specimen gets old, and its circumference grows smaller by 

 degrees, and beautifully (?) less, the mass of straw will also 

 shrink to accommodate the lawless tendencies of the skin. 



I have successively tried the effect of curing skins of sharks 

 in brine, in alcohol, and in the salt-and-alum bath, but the re- 

 sult is always the same. It is easy enough to mount them to 

 perfection, but to make them remain as mounted for five years 

 is beyond my powers. 



The rays are the meanest of all subjects that vex the soul of 

 the taxidermist. Shun them as you would the small-pox or the 

 devil. Such abominable animated pancakes, with razor edges 

 that taper out to infinite nothingness, were never made to be 

 mounted by any process known to mortal man. To mount the 

 skin of a vile ray, and make it really perfect and life-like is to 

 invite infinite shrinkage, rips, tears, warps, defeat, and humilia- 

 tion at the hands of your envious rivals. If you must mount a 

 ray, by all means get square with it at the start. Stuff his mis- 

 erable old skin with tow or straw, the more the better. Earn 

 him, cram him " full to the very jaws," like the famous rattle- 

 snake skin that taxidermist Miles Standish stuffed " with pow- 

 der and bullets." If you can burst him wide open from head to 

 tail, by all means do so, and you may call me your slave for the 

 rest of my life. Make him nice and round, like a balloon, and 

 then no matter what he does afterward to mortify and disgrace 

 you, and to drag your fair standard in the dust, you will always 

 have the satisfaction of knowing you are square with him. 



Once when I was young and innocent, I encountered an enor- 



