A SYLLABUS 



OF 



PRACTICAL TAXIDERMY; 



OR, 



THE ART OF PREPARING AND PRESERVING 

 SPECIMENS OF ANIMALS. 



THE apparatus requisite for collecting and 

 preserving the VERTEBRATE AKIMALS of 

 this country are both few and simple. 



MATERIALS. A good single or double bar- 

 led gun ; the latter is preferable. A hoop- 

 net of stout brass wire, about fourteen inches 

 in diameter and furnished with a bag of coarse 

 canvas, twelve inches deep. About six inches 

 of the wire at each end should be bent so as 

 to form a handle, or that it may be tied to the 

 end of a walking-stick ; or if expense is no 

 consideration, nothing can excel the com- 

 mon landing-net of anglers. A game bag is 

 only requisite for our larger species ; those 

 )f a smaller size may be conveniently carried 

 lome in the collector's hat or pocket, or in 

 a botanical collecting box. 



A very strong scalpel, such as is used by 

 surgeons for cutting through cartilages, but 

 shorter in the blade, costs Is. 6d. 



A pair of very powerful dressing-case 

 scissors, five inches long, at 2s. per pair. 



A pair of surgical dressing forceps, not 

 ess than seven inches in length, which is 

 pnger than they are usually made ; hence- 

 orth I shall call them neck forceps : their 

 lost is 2s. per pair. 

 A light hammer. 



These four instruments may be fitted into 

 a leather wrapper for the pocket ; and of 

 hese, the neck forceps is alone indispensable; 

 but a pair of old curling tongs is a tolerable 

 ubstitute ; and where economy is studied, 

 a penknife and a slip of hard wood, half an 

 ncli broad and tapering to a thin edge at 

 me extremity, will answer every purpose. 

 Besides these, there will be required, a pair 

 of pliers and another of cutting pincers for 

 wire ; a shoemaker's awl, iron wire of vari- 

 us sizes, needles, thread, coarse cotton, and 

 ow : a tin box containing arsenical soap, 

 irhich any apothecary can prepare from the 

 ollowing recipe : 



Camphor 



Arsenic, powdered 

 White soap - 

 Salt of tartar 

 Chalk, powdered - 



- 2Joz. 



- 1 Ib. 



- 1 



" Cut the soap into very thin slices ; put 

 them into a pot over a very gentle fire with 

 very little water, stirring with a wooden 

 spoon ; when dissolved, add the salts of 

 , tartar and chalk : take it off the fire, add 

 the arsenic, and stir the whole gently : 

 | pound the camphor in a mortar with a little 

 i spirits of wine, and mix." * Mr. Waterton's 

 solution of corrosive sublimate is very good 

 | and useful, but the arsenical soap is gene- 

 | rally preferred. " To a wine-bottle full of 

 spirits of wine, add a large tea-spoonful of 

 corrosive sublimate ; in twelve hours, draw 

 it off into a clean bottle, dip a black feather 

 into the solution, and if, on drying, a white- 

 ness is left on the feather, add a little more 

 alcohol. Spirit of turpentine will preserve 

 skins, but its properties are somewhat eva- 

 nescent ; and any skin may be preserved 

 from putrefaction, if it is thoroughly dried 

 and kept dry afterwards. It is to protect 

 it from the attacks of insects, that we apply 

 one or other of these nostrums. 



Mr. Goadby has prepared a solution,which, 

 for preserving some objects in natural his- 

 tory, is even superior to spirits of wine. 



Bay salt - - - - 4 oz. 

 Alum - -2 oz. 



Corrosive sublimate - -4 grains 

 Boiling water - - -2 quarts 

 well mixed, and the solution filtered. 



Plaster of Paris (gypsum) is greatly 

 superior to powdered chalk for absorbing 

 bloody and oily matter in the process of 

 skinning. A useful cement may be made 

 by dissolving some isinglass in hot water, 

 and adding the white of an egg. 



COLLECTING. The gun is the most power- 

 ful auxiliary in procuring specimens of our 

 mammalia and birds ; and did the nature 

 of this little work permit, I would add a 

 few hints about guns, and the best method 

 of proceeding against wild birds. To the 

 curious, I would recommend Col. Hawker's 



Swainson's Taxidermy, p. 28. 



ST 



