160 



Guide to Taxidermy 



white lead paint and let it dry while you are skin- 

 ning the fish. It will be better if you keep the fish 

 skin in water and do not mount it until the follow- 

 ing day so as to give the paint a chance to harden. 

 Of course, your paper pattern must be made 

 without regard to the fins and tail, and your wooden 

 form is to be devoid of these appendages. 



Putting the Skin on Form 



You will still need the piece of wet cloth on your 

 bench, and every few minutes until your fish is 

 completed, you must wet the fins. Lay the form 

 on your bench, front side up. Place the skin care- 

 fully in position taking care that no flesh or foreign 

 matter get between the skin and form to cause un- 

 \^^ VHIHmi sightly humps. Rub a little mixed clay on all the 



c'Ln.y. \/v Aro^ Aw^ fi" joints inside the skin, after having carefully 

 ■VU^^^^a. turned the body over, in the meantime holding the 



skin firmly from slipping on it. Draw the edges 

 of the skin together and they should just meet, if 

 the body was made just correctly; if they come 

 within a small fraction of an inch it will be all 

 right, since the joint is not to show; still the care- 

 ful workman will always see that it does meet cor- 



