1897. SOME NEW BOOKS. 127 



Then follow chapters on methods of preservation and modelling com- 

 positions, collecting Vertebrata and Invertebrata, the skinning and 

 setting up of mammals, birds, and fishes, etc., by various methods, 

 the modelling of flowers, foliage, etc., and the arrangement of 

 animals in groups in natural surroundings. 



These chapters are, on the whole, all that could be desired ; here 

 and there, however, we would venture to differ from the author. For 

 instance, we are far from sharing his enthusiasm for bichromate of 

 potash as a preservative fluid. Throughout the book methylated spirit 

 is described as methyl-alcohol, which is, of course, not correct. The 

 formulae for modelling waxes will be found very useful, but No. 63 

 might be still further improved by doubling the amount of plaster ; 

 the ochre may be omitted at discretion. 



The directions for " setting up " mammals by means of wooden 

 models or mannikins will be particularly welcome. It is, however, 

 a matter for real regret that these are not supplemented by a few 

 illustrations from the author's previous works, as well as by one or 

 two after Hornaday. This method is overshadowed in the present 

 volume by a system of " casting from the actual subjects and their 

 reproduction in paper." In the hands of a master of the craft this 

 process may be made to work successfully, but he must be a master, 

 or a very wooden effect is certain to result. Once the model is made, 

 alteration is almost out of the question. We think this latter method 

 should not be attempted, if at all, until after the ' mannikin ' has been 

 thoroughly mastered. 



No one who has ever tried the system of skinning birds under 

 the wing will ever again revert to the ancient method of removing the 

 body through the breast. The latter system is dismissed in the 

 present volume as utterly bad, whereas in the author's former books, 

 this method received the chief share of attention. Perhaps the tyro 

 would have been better advised if he had been bidden to choose such 

 a bird as a starling or gull, instead of a pigeon, for his first lesson, since 

 from the reviewer's experience, the pigeon is one of the most difficult 

 birds to undertake. It is hard to skin, and hard to mount. 



On p. 194 Mr. Browne treats of the method of setting up birds 

 on " scientific principles." The method in question is the same as 

 that adopted for large mammals, namely, the employment of a paper 

 model made from a cast of the body after removal from the skin, 

 which is then to be stretched over it. Experience may gain it a 

 place in our affections, but certainly we are not at all disposed in favour 

 of it. Later, a process is explained by means of which the whole skel- 

 eton is retained and made to form a framework for the support of the 

 skin. This, as an object lesson for demonstrating the relation of the 

 bones, and the way in which the skeleton determines the outer form, 

 is admirable, and nothing could be more instructive or helpful to a 

 beginner or one ignorant of anatomy. We commend it to the notice 

 of the professional " bird-stuffer," who, as a rule, is about as ignorant 

 of these matters as can well be. " Many specimens have been set up 

 by this method, which is so easy of accomplishment, and gives such 

 fine results, that in the Leicester Museum, in future, all mammals and 

 birds, when not modelled, will be executed by this process." As Mr. 

 Browne points out, there is nothing new in this ; it has been tried 

 and discarded, and as a matter of every-day practice will be rejected 

 now, and it is best so. This method, as well as that of paper models, 

 is a dangerous one, and inimical to the progress of taxidermy. It 

 would scarcely be possible to invent a system which demanded less 

 of the operator. There should be no necessity for such shifts and 



