388 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1892. 



given, for we can simply make a blueprint; that, as we know, can be 

 done in a few moments, and is a finished picture, i. c, does not require 

 toning and fixing. Then trace what you desire to appear on your blue 

 print as directed, and bleach out with a saturated solution of bicarbo 

 nate of potash. This gives you a black and white drawing of any finish, 

 aceording to the labor you may desire to put upon it, and is the working- 

 drawing now so commonly used for newspaper cuts; but when printed 

 upon the best paper, for the resulting electrotype or stereotype fur 

 nishes an excellent drawing for a variety of purposes, and a very useful 

 one for the working naturalist and practical taxidermist. 



Blotting paper in large sheets makes a far better background than 

 a sheet, and you may use it pure white, or blue, or gray, according to 

 the effect you desire to produce. Your subject should be well in front 

 of the background, and, if possible, so far in front as to avoid a shadow 

 being thrown upon it. Pictures thus taken out of doors, on clear, bright 

 days, are generally excellent. 



Returning now to the requirements of the skilled taxidermist, 1 have 

 said, and Capt. Brown supports me in it, he should have such a knowl 

 edge of physics and chemistry as will assist him in the case of the first 

 in deciding upon the possible and impossible in the matter of the atti- 

 tudes of animals, and to some extent in the surroundings, as m the 

 rock work, etc., now extensively used in reproducing large groups. 

 With respect to chemistry he should be so much master of its general 

 principles as to be enabled to practically apply it to the action ana 

 composition of preservatives lor the preservation of every description 

 of animal tissue. Not only that, but such a knowledge will be useful 

 to him in experimenting with the preservation of many kinds of plant 

 growths and kindred structures. For instance, I have recently been 

 shown specimens of the leaves of some varieties of trees that had been 

 gathered in nature and so perfectly restored that there was no very 

 great depreciation in them, either of form or color, and the effect when 

 properly done is most excellent. 



Fruits are now frequently reproduced by the methods of the plastic 

 cast, and are so perfect as to absolutely deceive the most critical of 

 observers. The persimmons in the Raccoon Group in the National 

 Museum were manufactured in that way, and it is by no means an easy 

 task, aided by the eye alone, to distinguish them from the originals. 



This brings us to the question of the various modes of modeling, and 

 here is one of the branches of the taxidermic art, upon which too great 

 an amount of skill and ingenuity can not well be expended. Here all 

 the acquirements of the art student in taxidermy can be applied and 

 nothing lost by the labor, it involves the application of all his knowl- 

 edge of anatomy, his technique, his taste, and indeed, nearly everything 

 which it has been recommended above for him to prepare himself m. 

 He should be able to make casts of both vertebrates and invertebrates 

 in plaster of Paris; he should be familiar with the various methods now 



