ii6 TAXIDERMY AND MODELLING 



however, of dealing with the ears, in all mammals, is to entirely 

 discard cardboard — inside and out, — and line between the skins 

 with a thin layer of clay or of one of the modelling-compositions 

 (see Chapter III. Division III.), and, when modelled into shape, 

 to partially or entirely fill the outer ear with clay also, which, 

 when thoroughly dry, can be removed, leaving the ears for ever 

 in shape, even in such subjects as "lop-ears." 



DIVISION II 



THE SETTING-UP OF MAMMALS BY MEANS OF WOODEN 

 MODELS OR MANNIKINS 



From the wiring by any of the foregoing methods to 

 the setting-up by means of a body-board or a mannikin is 

 an easy transition, if it be considered that a small piece of 

 board, placed within the body of a mammal,^ or even inside 

 that of a large bird,^ serves as a backbone to which the head 

 and limbs can be bolted ; from this arose the conception, not only 

 of a board conforming somewhat to the shape of the animal to 

 be set up, but of a " mannikin " such as was made early in the 

 century for an elephant, and also for the large ungulates, in the 

 Natural History Museum of Paris. 



Although elephants are not " common objects of the 

 country," yet they occasionally come under the taxidermist's 

 and modeller's hands, and therefore a description of how such 

 creatures are erected into a semblance of their former selves 

 may not be unwelcome ; and first it will be best to transcribe 

 what is, perhaps, the earliest description of the manner in 

 which a former school of taxidermists worked at such huge 

 brutes. 



^ See Capus et Rochebrane, Guide du Naturaliste Priparateur, p. 103 (on 

 which a horse is represented wired zs if it were a mouse !). 

 ^ See Gestro, Manuals delt Imbahamatore, p. 53. 



