METHODS IN THE ART OF TAXIDERMY. 



knife blade you can detach the plastron or under shield from the flesh 

 clear around to the points <?, a, and lift the plastron up just as you 

 would the lid of a chest/ This will expose the interior of the turtle. 

 Enough skin should remain attached to the sides of the plastron so that 

 you can sew the edges together just before finishing. Now make an 

 incision along the under side of the tail, and on the under side of each 

 flipper to facilitate skinning and, as an opening through which you 

 can work in the clay. Sever the front legs at the shoulder bones and 

 the hind legs at the pelvis. Skin them and clean them of flesh just as 

 you do in a quadruped, skinning ys far toward the end of the flippers 

 as possible, and leaving the leg-bones attached to the flippers. With 

 the aid of a chisel and bone forceps (Fig. 5, Plate III) separate the 

 pelvis from the upper shell and skin out the tail. Sever the cervical 

 vertebrcc, skin to the base of the skull where the neck vertebrx- should 

 be disjointed, take out the brain and remove all flesh from the skull. 

 The eyes of turtles are removed from the outside. 



The interior must be thoroughly scraped and cleaned of flesh, and, 

 after skinning, all large turtles should be placed in the salt and alum 

 pickle for a few days. In mounting the larger species a narrow center- 

 board is used in which to anchor the wires, as described for quadru- 

 peds on page 101. The body filling should be of tow, and the legs like 

 those of quadrupeds should be wrapped and made of the same material 

 and surrounded with clay mixed with finely chopped tow. The pecu- 

 liarities of the broad flat flippers can only be wrought out of the plas- 

 tic clay, and the seams should be neatly sewn up. In the very small 

 box and snapping turtles the system of wiring I have usually followed 

 is similar to that in Fig. 3, Plate LXXX. When the body filling has 

 been securely placed between the upper shell, and the wires that have 

 all been twisted on the center wire which extends from the brain cavity 

 to the end of the tail, (and sometimes through it), I pour on a thin 

 mixture of plaster of Paris and water which, when dry, unites the wires 

 which have been twisted together in one solid mass. Sometimes in the 

 small specimens I anchor the leg and center wires in solid balls of tow. 

 After the filling has been completed in turtles the plastron is brought 

 down and fastened with brass wires and the edges of the skin sewed 

 firmly together with strong thread. The final touches involve the 

 forming of the wrinkles and folds of the skin in their proper places, 

 the natural finish of the specimen, proper attitude and general neatness. 



1. Some taxidermists hold to the old method of removing the plastron entire (Plate LXXX, Fig. 2). This 

 is quite unnecessary and involves additional labor when the plastron is to be put back in place again. More than 

 all, it is impossible to sew up the seam in front so that it will be invisible. By the dextrous use of papier- 

 mache and colors, however, any unsightly seam may be covered up. Another method of skinning a turtle is 

 hrough a square section cut out of the plastron as seen by the dotted lines in Plate LXXIX, Fig. 1. 



