TAXIDERMY. 41 



Armadillos. (Dasypus.} 



These animals do not require any preservative, 

 because they are destitute of hair. 



Elephants. 



We are now arrived at the largest animals, the 

 most expensive, and the most difficult to mount. 



A detail of the necessary proceedings for mount- 

 ing an elephant would be too long for descrip- 

 tion, and we will limit ourselves to an extract of 

 those which have been resorted to for that which is 

 now in the Museum at Paris. 



The corpse of the elephant having been extended 

 upon the ground, facilitated our taking and writ- 

 ing all its dimensions: the thickness was taken by 

 a sort of rule which M. Lassaigne, cabinet maker of 

 the Museum, invented at the time ; this instrument 

 resembled the rule used by shoemakers, on a large 

 scale. The curves of the back, the belly, &c. were 

 taken by bars of lead, three quarters of an inch 

 thick. This metal not having any elasticity, ac- 

 commodated or bent itself to the curves we wished 

 to measure, and preserved the measurements until 

 wanted. M. Desmoulins drew the animal on one 

 of the sides of the wall, according to all these mea- 



