Taxidermy. 75 
TAXIDERMY AND ZooLoGicAL Cottectine. By William T. Hornaday. 
New York, Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1891. 
To the enthusiastic boy naturalist, waging a losing battle with 
the mangled remains of what once was a bird or small mammal, 
this book will be a revelation and a delight, telling him plainly 
and pleasantly everything necessary to enable him to skin, preserve 
and set up his bird or squirrel. 
To the advanced worker it will be equally welcome, giving the 
latest and most approved methods of work, with a copiousness of 
detail and wealth of iliustration exceedingly gratifying when com- 
pared with previous works. In truth, however, the plan of Mr. 
Hornaday’s book is so comprehensive and so ably carried out, that 
it cannot fairly be compared with any of its predecessors, many of 
the methods and appliances described being either the author’s 
Own inventions or improvements upon those already in use, espe- 
cially with reSpect to mounting the larger mammals and scaled 
fishes. Stress is laid upon the necessity of taking a full series of 
measurements and outline drawings, and the importance of accu- 
rate notes of all specimens, with sketches, so as to trust nothing to 
memory. Sound advice that, if followed, would save endless 
trouble. While preferring the clay-covered manikin for mounting 
mammals larger than a squirrel, the author describes the method 
of mounting with a soft body, as practised by the French taxiderm- 
ists, viz., filling around a central support with tow or similar. 
material. For the smaller mammals the writer prefers using a 
hard body, similar to that described for mounting birds, exactly 
copying the natural body as to size and form. For absorbing 
moisture or grease the writer much prefers fine sawdust to either 
plaster of Paris or cornmeal, the former covering everything with 
a fine film of dust, and when mixed with liquified grease forming 
a gummy cement very difficult to get rid of, while the latter is too 
hard to absorb moisture quickly. The book is divided into six 
parts: (1) Collecting and preserving. (2) Taxidermy. (3) Making 
casts. (4) Osteology. (5) The collection and preservation of insects 
(by Rev. W.J. Holland). (6) General information. Each subject 
is exhaustively treated, leaving little or nothing to be desired, every 
page bearing witness that it is written by one who loved his work 
and spared no pains to make himself master of it. It is illustrated 
by twenty-four plates and eighty-five cuts in the text. 
F. B. CAvuLFHILD. 
