PREFACE 



Some years have elapsed since the pubhcation of a work from 

 my pen entitled Practical Taxidermy, which, despite its element- 

 ary character, has — judging from numberless letters received 

 from all quarters of the globe — been of some service to its 

 readers. 



Since that time, the gratifying strides made by taxidermists 

 towards a better understanding of their art, and by museum 

 authorities towards a more scientific exposition of natural 

 objects, have emboldened me to describe methods of taxi- 

 dermy and modelling not yet published, most of which are, 

 indeed, absolutely novel, and at present confined to the 

 Leicester Miiseum. 



Although many of the processes described are somewhat 

 advanced and necessarily technical, yet, as the old methods of 

 work have been re-described, corrected, and have had new 

 light thrown upon them, the learner is easily led from the known 

 to the unknown, the stages being so defined that he need not 

 be alarmed at the magnitude of the task set him. Moreover, 

 the writer is always ready, as of old, to render any further 



