— a SS SS Se - —— 
ba OF STUFFING QUADRUFEDS. 9 
| preserve its smooth form, which must be allowed to dry 
thoroughly, and then the surface should receive a coating of 
the preservative. The sheath of the tail must now be rubbed 
| inside with the preservative. This is applied with a small 
| quantity of lint, attached to the end of a wire, long enough 
| to reach the point of the tail-sheath. The tail-bearer is then 
inserted into the sheath, and the oval part of the wire placed 
within the skin of the belly, and attached to the longitudinal 
wire, which is substituted for the vertebre or back bone. 
Four pieces of wire, about the thickness of a crow-quill, are 
then taken, which must be the length of the legs, and another 
| piece a foot or fifteen inches longerthan the body. One end of 
each of these is sharpened with a file ina triangular shape, 
so that it may the more easily penetrate the parts. At the 
_ blunt end of the longest piece a ring is formed, large enough 
_ to admit of the point of a finger entering it; this is done by 
| bending the wire back on itself a turn and a half, by the as- 
lee RET 
sistance of the round pincers. On the same wire another ring 
is formed ina similar manner, consisting of one entire turn. 
and so situated as to reach just between the animal’s shoulders, 
The measurement should be carefully made from the animal 
itself The remaining part of this wire should be perfectly 
straight, and triangularly pointed at the extremity. 
Another method of forming the supporting wires, as prac- 
tised by M. Nicolas, is to take a central wire, which must be 
_ the length of the head, neck, body, and tail of the Cat, as in 
plate II., that is, from a to b, but the tail at 6 is shortened 
owing to want of room in the plate; two other pieces are then 
_ taken and twisted round the centre piece, in the manner repre- 
sented in plate II. c, d, e, f; these extremities being left for 
| the leg wires. After the wires are thus twisted together, the 
central one is pulled out; and the feet wires of one side are | 
pushed through the legs of one side from the inside of the | 
skin, and, the other two leg pieces are bent and also forced | 
through the legs, and afterwards made straight by a pair of | 
pincers : the centre piece, having been previously sharpened at | 
one end with a file, is now forced through the forehead and 
down the neck, till it enter the centre of the twisted leg wires 
which it formerly occupied, and pushed forward to the ex- 
tremity of the tail, leaving a small piece projecting out of the 
