44 



METHODS I.Y THE ART OF TAXIDERMY. 



any quantity of solution required in the field without the use of a 

 test-glass. 



Every taxidermist of any experience whatever knows now much 

 more difficult it is to mount a dry skin than a fresh or wet one. 



The chief beauty of the salt and alum bath is that it will preserve 

 a skin for many years in as soft and pliable condition as when it is 

 taken from the animal, and it can be mounted as easily as though the 

 skin had been taken off yesterday. I once placed in a sealed jar of 

 this solution the skins of an opossum, raccoon and a fox squirrel and 

 kept them for seven years. These skins were as easily mounted as 

 though they had just come from the backs of the animals. I kept the 

 skins of two African elephants for eight months in a tank containing 

 this bath, renewing the liquid but once, however, and for the first week 

 or tea days changed the position of the skins and moved them about 

 each day, so that no spot in the skins was left untouched by the 

 action of the bath. I once dug a tapir out of the ground which had 

 been buried three days, and had about given up all hopes of saving the 

 skin on account of the hair starting out on the abdomen and on several 

 parts of the body. With a warm salt and alum bath, containing an 

 extra quantity of alum, the hair in the skin was made perfectly firm 

 and the skin easily managed. With this solution used in the manner 

 described you can often save the skin of an animal which has been 

 dead for several days, with the hair starting out on the blue-green ab- 

 domen. 



In this case make the solution so strong that a fresh hen's &%% will 

 float in it. For years this has been Dr. Jasper's method of testing the 

 strength of brine when the skin was so far gone that the preservation 

 of it was in question. At 25° an egg will float ; at 20° it will sink 

 to the bottom of the solution. If the skin you have is a bad case you 

 had better make the solution 35° by adding more salt and alum. 



In placing the skins in the salt and alum bath put them in leg- 

 bones and all, and be sure to change their position and move them up 

 and down and around for the first two or three days. See that the 

 skin is spread out as much as possible, that it is not doubled and folded, 

 for when this is the case there are spots on the inside of the skin that 

 the liquid is liable not to touch or penetrate, and in these places the 

 epidermis and the hair will come oS". When this solution has been in 

 use, or if it is allowed to stand open it loses its strength ; this can be re- 

 newed by adding more fresh liquid of a much greater degree of 

 strength than usual. 



The young of the smaller species of mammals, such as foxes, squir- 



