consisted in casting the 

 fins in wax and mount ini; 

 the casts on a backing 

 of thin metal. Another 

 method (Mr. Horter's), 

 which yielded delicate and 

 permanent results, was to 

 make the impressions of 

 the fins in softened gutta 

 percha which coidd then 

 be vulcanized. In several 

 of the models prepared, a 

 combination has been ar- 

 ranged so that the body of 

 a fish has been cast from 

 the fresh specimen and 

 upon this (a wax cast 

 rather than a plaster one) 

 actual fins have been 

 mounted. The result has 

 then been placed in the 

 hands of colorists who 

 have followed as far as 

 possible living models, the 

 New York Aquarium ha^•- 

 ing furnished excellent fa- 

 cilities for this work. 



A number of the specimens lately completed in the nuiseum would 



Sli.Tie-eel. or hagfish, Ilomea stouti. Model showing thLs 

 fish wound around a long trawl line and enveloi^ed in a 

 profuse secretion of slime. Hagflshes have the simplest 

 type of a skeleton, and in numerous regards typify the 

 " fish"' from whicli all other fishes descenrled 



Model of a .Iapane.se "ghost-fish. ' or ehim:eroid. This fish is now known to he a highly 

 modified shark, not the oldest and most iirimitive form of existing fish, as sometimes main- 

 tained 



173 



