38 TAXIDERMY. 



Bears. 



The size of a bear requires that the wire should 

 be placed in a different way. 



We take a plank, of an inch thick, and two in 

 width, and the length of which is the same as 

 that of the animal, to go perpendicularly from the 

 shoulders as far as the connection of the thighs 

 to the os pubis. We pierce a hole on the sur- 

 face of the plank, three inches distant from one 

 of its ends; we form a connecting groove, run- 

 ning from the hole on the upper surface of the 

 plank, round the end, to the same hole on the 

 lower side. This groove ought to be made with 

 a large gimblet, nearly the thickness of the iron 

 wire which we employ, and which it is to receive. 

 We then pass the wire by the hole through the 

 plank, and leave one of its ends just long enough 

 for it to be twisted with the other at the edge of the 

 plank ; we bend the iron into the groove, twist the 

 two ends strongly together, and put some wire nails 

 obliquely into the groove, in such a manner that 

 their heads are bent upon the wire, so as to prevent 

 it from shaking. The longest end of the wire 

 ought to be at least eighteen inches, and pointed, 

 so as to enable it to pierce the skull of the 

 bear. 



To fix the fore legs to this bar or plank, which 



