344 TAXIDERMY AND ZOOLOGICAL COLLECTING. 



For treating specimens of ordinary size with the concentrated 

 fumes of bisulphide of carbon, the National Museum uses a 

 galvanized sheet-iron tank 3x2x2 feet, which has around 

 its upper edge a deep groove filled with water, into which the 

 rim of the cover fits when the tank is closed. The centre of 

 the cover contains an air-hole, which is also capable of being 

 hermetically closed in the same way. This tank should be used 

 in the open air, if possible, so that the fumes will not injure 

 the health of the operator. 



POISONING RUGS. It has long been a problem how to poison 

 a fur rug to protect it from insects, and yet to keep out of it 

 the dry mineral poisons which would be injurious to the health 

 of the little ones, the dog, and the cat, who are " tenants in 

 common " of the bear-skin on the floor. Mr. F. S. Webster has 

 solved the difficulty by poisoning all his rugs on the inside 

 with our old and valued friend, arsenical soap. It strikes into 

 and through the skin, of course, and, contrary to previous ex- 

 pectations, it is by no means offensive, or even noticeable by 

 odor in the finished rug. 



FURS. Even in Washington, the City of Moths, Mrs. Horna- 

 day carried the family rugs and furs, and all woolen clothing, 

 through eight summers, unscathed, by the liberal use of cam- 

 phor gum alone. If the crumbled gum is sprinkled liberally 

 into the folds of anything when it is being folded or rolled up, 

 its protection against moths is assured. 



INSECT POWDERS. For the benefit of the American housewife 

 I will mention the fact that for the complete annihilation of 

 ants, roaches, water-bugs, and the like, there is nothing that I 

 know of that is so far-reaching and so deadly as a powder pro- 

 duced in California called buhac, costing sixty cents per pound. 

 The price is high, but the powder is well worth it and this is 

 an absolutely free advertisement. 



THE EFFECT OF POISONS ON THE TAXIDERMIST. Arsenical soap 

 is by all odds the safest poison that can possibly be used. It 

 gives off 110 poisonous fumes whatsoever, its presence in the 

 mouth, nose, or eyes is always detected instantly, and the 

 worst that it ever does is to get into a cut or under the ends 

 of the finger-nails of the careless taxidermist, and make a fes- 

 tering sore which is well in a few days a purely local ill. 



