256 TAXIDERMY AND ZOOLOGICAL COLLECTING. 



silver leaf, for nickel leaf is the only substance which has suffi- 

 cient lustre and will not oxidize, and turn yellow. 



If the whole body of a fish is dark, and without silvery tints, 

 it is, of course, unnecessary to use leaf, for the lustre can be ob- 

 tained by varnishing 1 over the paint. 



In many fishes, such as the scaled carp, for example, Marsch- 

 ing's gold paint or Japanese gold can be used directly on the 

 scales (after the entire fish has had a thin coat of Hendley's 

 enamel varnish), and the silver paint can.be used to good effect 

 in edging the scales. On the belly, however, which is silvery 

 white, nickel leaf must be used. The heads of most fishes are 

 so dark as to render the use of leaf unnecessary upon them, 

 and of coiirse it need not be used on the fins. 



PAINTING PLASTER CASTS OF FISHES, REPTILES, ETC. When a 

 cast is first taken from the mould, it will nearly always be found 

 that its surface is pitted here and there with little round holes 

 caused by air-bubbles. .The process of wetting the inside of 

 these holes, and carefully filling each one with mixed plaster 

 Paris is called " pointing up " a cast. After this has been care- 

 fully done, and the form and surface of the white cast is perfect, 

 if the cast is thoroughly dry we are ready to begin to paint it, 

 and proceed as described in the preceding 1 section. 



In case you find it impossible to use nickel leaf on your fishes, 

 you can do very good work without it, except that the silvery 

 parts will not be really silvery, and the white paint put on will 

 gradually turn yellow with age. After you have given the 

 specimen a good coat of colors (using- zinc white for the silvery 

 parts, because it is more permanent than other whites), varnish 

 the specimen all over with a kind of heavy white varnish called 

 Siccatif de Harlem, or, lacking- that, enamel varnish. This will 

 dry in about twenty minutes, after which paint the object over 

 again, this time with extreme care in the final touches. In 

 painting fishes and reptiles, there is a vast amount of detail to 

 be wrought out, and constant blending of colors. On many 

 fishes each scale must be marked off and painted separately. 

 In blending the edges of two adjoining colors, it must be done 

 with a clean brush a small one, of course with either a quick, 

 nervous motion along the line of contact, or else a steady 

 sweep, according to circumstances. When the brush gets full 



