456 



CHAPTERS ON THE NATURAL HISTORY 



out of the water something after the manner 1 of a porpoise. 

 This has been noticed oft* the coast of California, where perhaps 

 this, one of the most grotesque of all fishes, is as abundant as 

 it is in any other part of the world. 



In the mounting of mammals the same general principles are 

 employed. This is well-shown in the group of Jackals (Canis 

 aureus), mounted at the Leyden Museum, it being composed of 

 the adult pair, five young ones, and a fowl which has been killed 

 by the robber male and brought to the pups at the entrance of 

 the den. Both the hen and the young Jackals were mounted by 

 Mr. ter Meer's father, and are fine pieces of work in each instance, 

 as may be seen in the accompanying reproduction of the proto- 

 graph of this group sent me by the artists. We have in the ac- 

 cessories an excellent representation of a North African scene 

 on the border of the desert where the sandstone soil barely sup- 



FIG. 124. MODEL or JACKAL. 



$ > showing superficial muscles : ready to receive the skin. Prepared by H. H. ter Meer, Jr. 



ports a meager and widely scattered growth of cactus and agave. 

 The rock masses in the scene are modeled upon cardboard by the 

 use of Mr. ter Meer's own composition; while the forms of these 

 bowlders were obtained from photographs of similar scenes in 

 North Africa, kindly loaned for the purpose by Mr. Krause, con- 

 servator to the Geological Museum of Leyden ; and from the same 

 source was likewise obtained a sufficient quantity of the sand of 

 the desert from such a place as to insure the selection of the 



