SCIENTIFIC TAXIDERMY FOR MUSEUMS. 3t>3 



In time we must believe that the plastic method as described above for 

 invertebrates will come to be generally used for crustaceans as well. 

 There is no reason that I can at present see that it should not, and every 

 reason that it should. Xo specimens of the group preserved in that 

 way have come to my attention in the collections of the National 

 Museum or elsewhere, and so 1 have no plates of the same to offer here. 

 Those prepared by the methods recommended by Mr. Lucas are so well 

 done, and differ so little or not at all from those animals as they are 

 recognized by us in nature, that nothing would be gained by reproduc- 

 ing photographs of them as illustrations to the present report; there- 

 fore the idea was not entertained. 



This fact has also influenced in regard to insects; moreover, in the 

 case with that group our Government has already published very full 

 instructions upon their mounting and preservation for museum pur- 

 poses, and that taxidermist who aspires to be a master of every depart- 

 ment of his art can do no better than consult the admirable treatist s of 

 Prof. C. V. Riley, and of Prof. A. S. Packard, and others in the same 

 field. 



When we come to fishes, however, we at once enter upon the bor- 

 derland of the taxidermy of the great realm of the vertebrata, and for 

 it there exists a not inextensive literature, and methods and instruc- 

 tions are found almost without end. 



Fishes seem to have constituted the bete noir of the museum collec- 

 tor and the taxidermist for ages past, and until the use of the gelatine 

 cast came into vogue their natural preservation seemed almost hopeless. 

 In alcohol many of them become shrunken, and a large percentage part 

 with their natural colors entirely. Moreover, the usual cylindrical jars 

 used to exhibit them in, on the museum shelves, so distort their forms 

 to the eye of the casual observer who thus views them through the 

 glass, that another serious disadvantage is added. To a large extent, 

 this has recently been overcome by Mr. J. E. Benedict, of the National 

 Museum, who, by indefatigable patience and thought, has devised very 

 neat appearing glass receptacles, with plane surface sides, and a few 

 ingenious devices for sustaining the contained specimens in morenatu 

 ral positions, thus largely doing away with the aforesaid disadvantage. 



suit them in the future. I am indebted to Mr. Lucas for the loan of them, and they 

 are works of no little interest. They are as follows: 



First Annual Report | of the | Society | of | American Taxidermists. | — | March 

 24th, 1880, to March 25th. 1881. | — | Rochester, N. Y. | Daily Democrat and Chronicle 

 Book and Job Print, 3 West Main st. | 1881. 8vo., pp. 3t>. 3 process plates. 



Second Annual Report | of the | Society | of | American Taxidermists. | — | March 

 25th, 1881, to March 24th, 1882. | — | Compiled by the secretary. | — | Rochester, N. 

 Y. | Judson J. Withall, Book and Job Printer, 39 N. Union street, | 1882. Svo.. pp. 

 56, with an announcement and index. 2 plates. 



It is very much to be desired that this society should be reorganized, and that 

 upon a basis of organization of some one of our best societies in the arts or sciences. 

 The need for such a society is great. 



