August 7, 1884] 



NA TURE 



339 



to note the progress of the art of taxidermy which 

 these specimens exhibited. It is notorious that for 

 m in, years the authorities of the Zoological Department 

 have been troubled with the preservation of antique 

 specimens of natural history which seemed to be falling 

 into a state of natural decay, although no actual reason 

 could be assigned for their dissolution, and moths and 

 beetles have never been known to do any harm to the 

 collections, thanks to the constant care which is exercised 

 in that department. But on dismounting some of the 

 ancient specimens, such as those presented by Colonel 

 Montagu, it was discovered that they had never been 

 properly skinned, and with the exception of the extrac- 

 of the entrails, the bones and flesh of the birds had 

 been left entire, and apparently without an attempt to 

 '"■r preserve the specimens. The result may be ima- 

 gined, and the difficulty of preserving these interesting 

 Brill be fully appreciated by the naturalist of to-day. 

 It has often been a source of wonder to zoologists as to 

 what has become of many of the types of species recorded 

 by Latham and the older writers on ornithology as 

 existing in the British Museum, which certainly are no 

 longer in the national collection. The records of the 

 Museum show that they never descended to modern 

 times, and there can be little doubt that the defective 

 preparation of a hundred years ago was inadequate for 

 their preservation, and that they were allowed to fall into 

 decay by the earlier custodians of the national Museum, 

 in whom the sacred value of a type was not so inherent as 

 it is in the age in which we live. 



We may hope that the improved preparation of the 

 specimens in the Natural History Museum marks the 

 commencement of a new era in the art of taxidermy, for 

 the skilful mounting of animals is a real art, and ought to 

 be recognised as such. An artist who portrays animal 

 life successfully reaps the full appreciation of his country- 

 men, and is well paid for his work, but hitherto the 

 taxidermist has never been properly appreciated, and 

 until adequate remuneration is provided for the artists 

 who reproduce natural specimens, we can never hope for 

 the success of taxidermy as an art which ought to rank 

 as high as that of the animal painter. The undoubted 

 success which has attended the production of the groups 

 of British birds which now adorn the corridors in the 

 Natural History Museum is a great encouragement to 

 those who have at heart the welfare of the art of taxidermy, 

 and it cannot be denied that the mounting of these groups 

 does credit to all concerned. We are aware that Prof. 

 Flower (himself no mean taxidermist) takes a great 

 interest in the improvement in the mounting of animals in 

 the Museum of which he is so able a Director, and the 

 exertions of Dr. Giinther in this direction have been 

 manifest since his appointment as Keeper of the Zoological 

 Department in the British Museum, while the frequent 

 occurrence of Lord Walsingham's name as a donor of 

 many of these' beautiful groups of " British birds in their 

 haunts," shows the practical utility of having as a trustee 

 a naturalist who labours to supply the wants of the insti- 

 tution of which he is one of the guardians. In the Bird 

 Gallery itself, as well as in that of Mammalia and Osteo- 

 logy, the same wish to improve the natural appearance of 

 the specimens exhibited is seen at every turn, and it is to 

 be hoped that the lesson thus taught by the British 

 Museum will be imprinted on the mind of every pro- 

 vincial curator, who will feel henceforth that the value of 

 the collection under his charge will consist not so much 

 in the array of mounted specimens which he can muster 

 on his shelves, as in the excellent preparation of the few 

 leading types which are really all that are necessary for 

 the instruction of the public. 



The above thoughts have been inspired by a perusal of 

 a little work which has fallen into our hands, viz. the 

 second edition of Mr. Montagu Brown's Essay on Taxi- 

 dermy. Mr. Brown is the Curator of the Leicester 



Museum, and he is a man of whom any provincial 

 museum may well be proud. In a lecture delivered 1 

 years ago at Leicester Mr. Bowdler Sharpe gave some 

 hints on what he conceived it to be the object 1 

 County museum. It seemed to him that in the first 

 place it was expected of every County museum to 

 make as perfect a collection as possible of the natural 

 productions of that County — that this should be the aim 

 and object of every curator, and that all these exhibits 

 should be arranged in the most popular and attrac- 

 tive form. It was impossible, he pointed out, for a 

 local museum to attempt to show a perfect collei 

 of all the classes of animals. This ought to be left 

 to the British Museum ; but he insisted that it was 

 within the province of every such museum to ex- 

 hibit a typical series of animals which would be use- 

 ful for comparison with local species, and would educate 

 the minds of an intelligent public towards an appreciation 

 of the varied forms of animal life upon the globe, as com- 

 pared with the zoology and botany of the county in which 

 they lived. Shortly after the Committee of the Leicester 

 Museum carried out this idea to a limited extent under the 

 curatorship of Mr. Harrison, a most intelligent custodian, 

 who is, we believe, now located at Birmingham ; but the 

 plan was fully developed by his successor, Mr. Brown, 

 who has employed his talents as a taxidermist in a popu- 

 lar direction, and the result is that the collection of birds 

 at Leicester is mounted in cases with the natural sur- 

 roundings explaining their habits at a glance, and in a 

 manner with which no guide-book attempting to illustrate 

 a collection on a conventional plan can hope to vie. h 

 may be a question for naturalists whether this will not I 

 museum of the future, but as evidence of the value of 

 practical taxidermy this maybe considered ahead) 1 . 

 accompli ; and in making these remarks it would be unfair 

 not to mention the names of some of those who in 

 England have contributed to the improvement of this 

 art. Of these the honoured name of John Han 

 stands first, for the influence of Waterton, who 

 to import into this country an improved system of 

 mounting animals, seems to have been but small among 

 the generation which followed him. Mr. Han 

 groups in the Great Exhibition of 185 1 left an indelible- 

 impress upon British taxidermy, and his rendering 

 bird of prey is only equalled for life-like delineatio 

 one of Wolf's pictures. Mr. A. D. Bartlett, the well- 

 known Superintendent of the Zoological Gardens, is cer- 

 tainly one of the best taxidermists which this country has 

 produced, while the art of mounting Mammalia has been 

 studied with success by Mr. Rowland Ward and Mr. Edward 

 Gerrard — most of the best examples of the latter class in the 

 British Museum having been mounted by the last-named 

 artist. Many provincial men, such as Mr. Swaysland of 

 Brighton, Mr. Shaw of Shrewsbury, and Mr. Ouartermain 

 of Stratford-on-Avon, have proved their ability as taxi- 

 dermists, and London itself possesses adepts in thi 

 who are equal to the great taxidermist Termayer of Hol- 

 land, whose masterpieces may be seen in the Museums 

 of Amsterdam and Leyden ; but we doubt whether any- 

 body has exercised more influence on the improvement 

 in the mounting of animals than Mr. E. T. Booth of 

 Brighton, whose collection of British birds exhibited in 

 the Dyke Road Museum is one of the sights of England. 

 To him belongs the credit of being the first to attempt a 

 collection of British birds with their natural surroundings, 

 and it is upon the lines introduced by Mr. Booth that the 

 beautiful groups of our native species in their natural 

 habitats has been attempted at the British Museum ; and 

 if the genius of Mr. Pickhardt who has mounted the 

 birds, and of Mr. Mintorn, to whose skill the beautiful 

 modelling of the flowers and trees is due, does not satisfy 

 the aspirations of British naturalists, we shall feel that 

 the improvements in the taxidermy of recent years have 

 no real existence. 



