OF STUFFING QUADRUPEDS. 9 



preserve its smooth form, which must be allowed to dry 

 thoroughly, and then the surface should receive a coating of 

 the preservative. The sheath of the tail must now be rubbed 

 inside with the preservative. This is applied with a small 

 quantity of lint, attached to the end of a wire, long enough 

 to reach the point of the tail-sheath. The tail-bearer is then 

 inserted into the sheath, and the oval part of the wire placed 

 within the skin of the belly, and attached to the longitudinal 

 wire, which is substituted for the vertebrae or back bone. 



Four pieces of wire, about the thickness of a crow-quill, are 

 then taken, which must be the length of the legs, and another 

 piece a foot or fifteen inches longer than the body. One end of 

 each of these is sharpened with a file in a triangular shape, 

 so that it may the more easily penetrate the parts. At the 

 blunt end of the longest piece a ring is formed, large enough 

 to admit of the point of a finger entering it ; this is done by 

 bending the wire back on itself a turn and a half, by the as- 

 sistance of the round pincers. On the same wire another ring 

 is formed in a similar manner, consisting of one entire turn, 

 and so situated as to reach just between the animal's shoulders. 

 The measurement should be carefully made from the animal 

 itself. The remaining part of this wire should be perfectly 

 straight, and triangularly pointed at the extremity. 



Another method of forming the supporting wires, as prac- 

 tised by M. Nicolas, is to take a central wire, which must be 

 the length of the head, neck, body, and tail of the Cat, as in 

 plate II., that is, from a to b, but the tail at b is shortened 

 owing to want of room in the plate ; two other pieces are then 

 taken and twisted round the centre piece, in the manner repre- 

 sented iii plate II. c, d, e, f; these extremities being left for 

 the leg wires. After the wires are thus twisted together, the 

 central one is pulled out ; and the feet wires of one side are 

 pushed through the legs of one side from the inside of the 

 skin, and, the other two leg pieces are bent and also forced 

 through the legs, and afterwards made straight by a pair of 

 pincers : the centre piece, having been previously sharpened at 

 one end with a file, is now forced through the forehead and 

 down the neck, till it enter the centre of the twisted leg wires 

 which it formerly occupied, and pushed forward to the ex- 

 tremity of the tail, leaving a small piece projecting out of the 



