316 OUT OF DOORS. 



idea that they have been contemplating the prepared 

 skin of a * native,' and one gentleman, on seeing an 

 engraving of the object, took it for a portrait of the 

 operator, and thought that Mr. Waterton must be a 

 very odd- looking person. Less in dimensions, but not 

 less amusing, are the bizarre forms wittily ticketed as 

 Cancer zodiacus and Diabolus coeruleus, two ludicrous 

 combinations of heterogeneous parts, belonging to all 

 kinds of creatures ; and the various odd compositions 

 that meet the eye are made with a marvellous ingenuity 

 that surpasses even the far-famed Japanese mermaids 

 (of which, by the way, I have examined several j, and 

 bewilders the casual visitor to such an extent that he 

 is led to doubt whether the very staircase may not be a 

 deception. These objects are only manufactured for 

 the purpose of showing the perfection to which the art 

 of skin-modelling can be brought, and the plastic 

 nature of the material placed in the taxidermist's 

 hands. 



It has been suggested that the time consumed in 

 completing one of these specimens namely, seven or 

 eight weeks for a creature as large as a leopard would 

 debar professional taxidermists from employing the 

 system. But each specimen only requires about half 

 an hour's work daily, so that, after the first start, an 

 industrious operator can turn out as many specimens as 

 under the present system. Mr. Waterton, for example, 

 always has several skins in hand, in different stages of 

 progress, and by giving a few minutes' labour to each 



