182 



THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE. 



** Belmont British. 



By G. C. Glutton. 



TO flog fanciers "Belmont British" 

 was knoA\u as one of the few al- 

 most faultless specimens of bull-dog 

 breed. But the fact that he was Grand 

 Champion for 1922 did not make this 

 far-famed animal impervious to the sud- 

 den attack of sickness which quickly 

 removed him from the canine world; 

 death is no respecter of dogs. Must 

 poor old "Belmont British" be put un- 

 der the sod and forgotten as if he had 

 been no more than a scavenging habitue 

 of the back lanes ? Perish the thought ! 

 His owner, Mr. G. Parsons, determined 

 that his canine majesty should be pre- 

 served in- a-11 his wrinkled beauty; and so 

 the carcase of "Belmont British'' went 

 not back to mother earth, but became 

 the subject of earnest contemplation and 

 tedious painstaking labour in the work- 

 shops of the Australian Museum. 



I'hose who may take the opportunity 

 of seeing this mounted specimen of a 

 bull doa', now amongst the treasures of 



our Museum, may be interested to know 

 something of the methods employed in 

 carrying out the work. 



The mounting was done on a papier 

 mache manikin (this being the first at- 

 tempt uuide at the Museum to mount a 

 specimen on a manikin ) and the task 

 before the preparator was to get a 

 "true-to-life" reproduction. 



After the animal had been carefully 

 skinned, salt and alum were rubbed on 

 the skin and allowed to stand for a few 



The exhibit completed. The smaU illustration depicts the manikin employed. So many pins were 

 used to hold the wrinkles and folds in position till the skin had set, that "Belmont British" rather 

 resembled a spiny ant-eater than the Grand Champion for 1922. 



Photo. — G. C. Glutton. 



