METHODS IN THE ART OF TAXIDERMY. I9I 



one of the Utile things that go to make \\\) the general neatness and 

 excellence of the specimen. Now give the specimen a critical looking 

 over on all sides and see what fault you can find with it. And, after 

 you have given it a combing and brushing, pinned the corners of the 

 eyes down in their hollows, cut the wire off that protrudes from the 

 nose, adjusted the tail, etc., set the specimen away in your dark 

 closet to dry for two or three weeks. During all this time, however, 

 it should be examined daily to see that the ears are drying smoothly, 

 that the lips still remain in shape ; that the toes still hold the posi- 

 tion you gave them. If you desire to paint the color of the eyelids 

 and the end of the nose, or to model an open mouth in colored wax, 

 I shall refer you to Chapter X. Remember this is your first speci- 

 men of mammal mounting and you are very likely in the future to 

 regret that you did not spend more time, and exercise more care 

 and patience in its mounting. But keep it as a relic; you can 

 always find some out-of-the-way corner, dark enough to hide its defects, 

 and you may even venture to look at it once in a v/hile and thereby 

 have an opportunity to congratulate yourself on the improvement you 

 are making in the art. 



Mounting Mammals with the Center Board— The method of 

 using a center wire for the backbone as we have done in the squirrel 

 which we have just mounted will not answer in the larger specimens 

 of long-haired quadrupeds, such as coyotes, large dogs, bears, large 

 monkeys, anthropoid apes, etc., because the leg supports must, from 

 the size of the animals be something more than a light wire that can 

 be twisted at will. Iron rods or wires of a large size must be used (see 

 sizes of wires and rods, page 11). Many old, dry skins cannot be 

 mounted on the dermoplastic method, i. ^., on a manikin covered with 

 clay, because the skins are shrunken to such a degree that nothing 

 but plenty of tow or straw and physical force will stretch them to their 

 proper proportions — hence in the cases of aged, dry skins a heroic 

 method must be adopted ; it is the old taxidermic style and is recom- 

 mended and practiced by the best German taxidermists. 



I shall here describe Dr. Jasper's method of handling these sub- 

 jects, and we shall take for our example a coyote. It is skinned ex- 

 actly as we have directed for the squirrel or small mammals. Lay the 

 skin out on the work-bench, arrange the legs in a natural walking 

 attitude. Place them in the position you desire to have the animal 

 stand when mounted. Take a heavy annealed wire and make it con- 

 form to every bend along the back of the leg bones. In each leg 

 allow the length of the wires to project far enough out of the soles of 



