1 8 TAXIDERMY AND MODELLING 



March 1880, and this, which was called "The Society of 

 American Taxidermists," was the first society of the kind, and 

 should have done great things not only for American taxidermy, 

 but for that of the world. Its first annual exhibition was held 

 from 14th to 1 8th December 1880, when medals and certificates 

 were granted to various members for work exhibited. Two 

 other annual exhibitions were also held, which do not appear, 

 however, to have been successes financially, although numbers 

 of " pieces " were exhibited. The first annual report was 

 issued in 1 881, the second in 1882, and the third in 1883, 

 and contained — especially the last — some capital papers (men- 

 tioned in the bibliography), notably one by the President, Mr. 

 Frederic A. Lucas.^ After that time the Society ceased to 

 exist, whether from want of funds, from professional jealousy, 

 or from the apathy of the public is unknown, but in any case 

 its disappearance is regrettable. 



One word of caution is necessary : in these pages will 

 frequently appear references to work executed in the Leicester 

 Museum ; it must not be supposed, however, that all is excel- 

 lent or approaching perfection, for there is a great quantity of 

 taxidermic work which is very defective, and the want of 

 courage is often regretted which allowed these old and ill- 

 mounted specimens to be retained, and to be patched up instead 

 of burned ; fortunately, however, as fresh specimens are pro- 

 cured, they replace those which are unsatisfactory. 



Finally, the object of the following pages is to pave the 

 way for such a happy combination of qualities in the taxidermist 

 as has been previously sketched, and if the methods and 

 instructions are explicit enough to do this, that object will 

 have been attained. 



1 " The Scope and Needs of Taxidermy,'' Address of the President, Frederic A. 

 Lucas, Third- Annual Report of the Society of American Taxidermists, 1882-83, 

 pp. 51-58. 



