1036 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1895. 



By the aid of his special methods Mr. H. H. ter Meer, jr., has mounted 

 some fine mammal pieces, and a number of these are likewise shown in 

 the accompanying plates— as, for example, the female and young of 

 Simla satyrus (Plate 3, fig. 2, July, 1895), and a still better one, another 

 female of the same species (also preserved in July, 1895), and shown 

 with its model in Plate 1 and Plate 2, figures 1 and 3. This is one 

 of the most admirable and lifelike results that I have ever had the 

 pleasure of examining, and stands far ahead of the average mounted 

 Simian seen in the cases of the larger museums of the world. At the 

 time of its death it was nearly full-growu, and so is a most valuable 

 specimen. In April, 1896, the senior H. H. ter Meer mounted the fine 

 example of the Macaque [Macacus coninus) shown in Plate 3, figure 1, 

 while only a month before that the head of Felts leo, shown in Plate 4, 

 figure 1, was i)repared. These talented taxidermists take especial 

 pride in their mounted specimen of Ovis tragelaphiis (May, 1896), and 

 no less than three photographs of this piece have been submitted to 

 me, i^resenting it from different views. Two of these are shown in 

 Plate 5 and Plate 6, figure 1. 



Mr. H. H. ter Meer fully agrees with the present writer in the use of 

 photographs and sketches as aids to the work of the taxidermic artist, 

 and by such means he has fully illustrated the topogTaphical anatomy 

 of both the domestic cat and the horse, showing the muscles in various 

 positions of the body. In this connection he deplores the scarcity ot 

 helpful manuals and text-books in such departments, and holds The Cat, 

 by Professor Mivart, and Specht's designs of mammals, as among the 

 best that have thus far appeared, and he also speaks of the figures in 

 Brehm's "Thierleben" as also extremely useful. 



When at Darmstadt some years ago, he "had an opportunity to 

 become acquainted with Mr. Kusthart's method of mammal mounting. 

 After having glued large pieces of peat on a frame, he carves [out] like 

 a sculptor the whole animal from the peat, and thus obtains excellent 

 results, by adjusting the prepared skin over the sculptured body." 

 "The gluing of the peat on the frame is, however, a very tedious piece 

 of work, but it admits of having the skin subsequently fixed ovesit 

 most accurately with pins." My correspondent also comments upon 

 the taxidermical methods now coming into vogue in Paris, where they 

 cover the hollow wooden frame representing the body of the animal 

 with a layer of plaster-of-paris about one-half an inch thick. Some 

 tow is used in connection with the frame, and while the plaster is/in a 

 soft condition the taxidermist carves out rapidly the form of the ani- 

 mal. This method was published last year in V Illustration, and the 

 article was illustrated by means of reproductions of photographs, giv- 

 ing various stages of the process as applied to a buffalo. Mr. H. H. ter 

 Meer says the body was artistically prepared, and exhibited considera- 

 ble study, though he doubts that the skin can be fixed into the sulci 



