220 TAXIDERMY AND ZOOLOGICAL COLLECTING. 



WALL CASES. The shallow box case with glass front, shelter- 

 ing- one specimen or a group, and garnished with certain ac- 

 cessories, is one of the most popular and pleasing 1 of all pieces 

 of decorative taxidermy. Its evolution is due directly to the 

 desire to protect from destruction the more cherished of the 

 single specimens that first began to grace the homes of the 

 lovers of animated nature. In American homes there are to- 

 day thousands of pretty wall-cases of choice birds mounted 

 with suitable accessories, either natural or artificial, many with 

 painted backgrounds, and an equal number without. There are 

 also hundreds of cases of small mammals mounted in the same 

 way. 



Artificial Leaves. The accessories most available are grasses 

 and ferns carefully pressed, dried, and painted green, and set in 

 the foundation work. Natural moss is used in the same way, 

 and for bushes with foliage, artificial leaves are easily procured 

 and wired on to the twigs of the branch that has been selected 

 for use. These can be procured of any first-class dealer in 

 taxidermists' supplies, or at large artificial flower establish- 

 ments. If leaves of some special kind are desired, or leaves in 

 great quantity, it will be best to procure them direct of C. 

 Pelletier, 135 Wooster Street, New York City, who has sup- 

 plied me for eight years. The cost of leaves varies from 25 

 cents to $2.00 per gross; and for some kinds even more. 



Water and Ice. To represent water, use a sheet of clear 

 glass, and build up underneath it a bottom of sand, or gravel, 

 or weeds, as may be necessary. Ice is easily counterfeited by 

 coating a sheet of glass or wood with paraffin, which is quite 

 white, and sufficiently transparent to give the proper effect. 

 Icicles are manufactured by Demuth Brothers, 89 Walker 

 Street, New York, especially for taxidermists, at very moderate 

 prices, and are infinitely better than anything the taxidermist 

 can produce. They are fastened to the sides of snow-cov- 

 ered rocks, or wherever they belong, by setting them at the 

 base in stiff papier-mache with sinew glue. 



Snow is made by flowing plaster Paris over the surface to be 

 covered, and dressing its surface at once ; and then, before it be- 

 comes quite hard, sprinkling its surface with painter's frosting, 

 which is exceedingly thin flakes of clear glass, and must be 



