METHODS IN THE ART OF TAXIDERMY. 203 



held in position with cardboard, pinned in the same manner you do a 

 bird's tail to hold the feathers in position while drying. Fig. .'>, Plate 

 XV. Small and medium-sized fishesare best preserved in jarsof alcohol. 



Stuffed fishes are not always a triumphant success. In many cases 

 it is better to cast them in plaster and paint them. See Chapter XV, 

 Making Plaster Casts. Of the species found in Ohio which give the 

 best results in mounting are the Black Bass, Perch, Goggle-eye, Straw 

 Bass, Sunfishes, Pickerel, INIuscallonge and Gars. Mr. Charles Dury's 

 method of preparing the fishes for the Ohio exhibit at the World's 

 Columbian Exposition is as follows: Choose and keep intact the most 

 perfect side of the subject, i. e., the side having the most perfect set of 

 scales and fins. Split the other side from the gill opening down the 

 middle to the tail. Skin out the body, cut away as much bone of the 

 head as possible, clean and scrape away every vestige of flesh and fat. 

 Anoint every part with arsenical solution. Sew up the seam and fill 

 the skin with saw dust, pouring the saw dust through a funnel placed 

 in the mouth or gill opening. Lay the filled skin (seam down) on a 

 board and mould it into shape with the hands. Spread the fins and 

 tail as desired and hold them in position with pins until dry. The fish 

 when dry may be painted and mounted on a medallion of wood of 

 suitable color and shape. 



Painting Mounted Fishes. — We have already in this work given 

 directions for the mixing of tints and the manner of applying them. 

 To paint the skin of a fish successfully, with its silver or golden metallic 

 lustre — to produce those glorious colors as seen in a fish just taken 

 from the water, and as viewed by a Waltoniau eye, is truly a work of 

 art. It requires the most delicate touch and dextrous use of the 

 brush and colors. Tube colors alone will not impart the silver or 

 golden lustre. Where the metallic tint is required nickel leaf must first 

 be laid on with sizing ; where a golden tint is necessary use gold paint. 

 When these metallic tints are laid on, the tube colors may be worked 

 in above them, after which the entire skin should be given a thin coat 

 of clear white varnish. 



Collecting in the Field— Prof. W^iley's method of preserving a 

 fish during Ions: vovages was as follows: If the fish had a coat of 

 mucous on it this was washed off with a solution of spirits of turpen- 

 tine and alum. This was done after a finished water-color sketch of 

 the subject was made. The skin having been taken off, was neatlv 

 wrapped in a piece of linen and placed in a copper field-tank contain- 

 ing alcohol. This tank is made precisely as directed for the the lead 

 field-tank on page 61. For the strength of spirits necessary see page 



