ANGLERS' TROPHIES. 143 



pike after the last day of February and before the 

 3Oth of June. 



The trophies pf anglers, and of the members of 

 Angling Societies, are seldom mounted without 

 some kind of pictorial embellishment ; and among 

 the best examples of modern taxidermy were 

 specimens of very fine pike at the 1883 Inter- 

 national Fisheries Exhibition, South Kensington, 

 Among other grand fish were pike of 37 lb., 

 36* lb., 35* lb., 32 lb, 3oJ* lb., 28* lb, and 

 downwards to 20 lb, the weights of which were all 

 authentic : but the weights of many others ex- 

 hibited (as specified on their glass cases) were, to 

 say the least, doubtful. When taking plaster of 

 Paris " casts " of fish it is very different, for 

 they cannot be " faked " and made to appear 

 larger, than when alive in the water. The wet 

 plaster of Paris is simply poured on the fish, and 

 moulds itself to the exact length, girth, and contour 

 of the specimen, perfectly reproducing every fin, 

 scale, and muscle. 



Casts were made by the late Mr. Frank Buck- 

 land of my above-mentioned pike which are 

 marked *, also of some of my large perch and a 

 fine grayling, which were painted by my artist 

 friend, the late Mr. H. L. Rolfe. who depicted the 

 colours of the fish soon after capture ; and the 

 perfection of simulation could no further go, nor 

 the art of making the unreal appear as life, 



" Before decay's effacing fingers 

 Have swept the lines where beauty lingers." 



