THE TREATMENT Oh FISHES 213 



In all that constitutes the perfection of simulation or the art of 

 making the unreal appear as the real, casting is immeasurably ahead of 

 fish-stufiSng. You have, in fact, the exact representation of the fish, 

 scale for scale, as he appeared fresh out of the water, in full length and 

 unshrunken proportions. With a stuffed fish, on the contrary, neither 

 his length nor his girth is ever really accurate. Fish vertebrae are 

 separated by a sort of gelatinous substance, forming a separation be- 

 tween the several joints, which, after a short time, becomes desiccated 

 or dried up, thus contracting the several bones and shortening, not in- 

 considerably, the total length. A similar shrinking process, though 

 from somewhat different causes, takes place in the girth. The colour- 

 ing also in the cast is that of the fish just after his decease — 



Before decay's effacing fingers 



Have swept the lines where beauty lingers. 



And last, not least, the fish-casting is practically indestructible by time, 

 and does not cause the disagreeable smell produced^by the old mummi- 

 fied specimens of the art of the taxidermist, no matter how scientific- 

 ally tittivated in the ordinary manner. Besides Mr. Jardine's pike,^ 

 aforesaid, — alone worth going to the Exhibition to see — there was in 

 the same gallery a very beautiful cast of a grayling of about 2 lbs. 

 weight, which was a model of fish-loveliness, and seemed to do every- 

 thing but swim. I am very sorry that I have forgotten the names of 

 the artists by whom these casts were made, so that I am not able to 

 associate their names with their exhibits. 



The fish-taxidermist, being by this time, probably, reduced 

 to a proper condition of mind, is recommended to begin with 

 a perch, which, by reason of its thickness of skin, is best 

 suited to the occasion. 



The perch, after capture, is at once mercifully killed by the 

 insertion of a penknife through the gills, severing the spinal 

 cord, or passing into the brain (when it can be found) ; the 

 fish is then wrapped in damp rag or paper — not grass, which 

 marks it in stripes not calculated upon in the scheme of evolu- 

 tion, — and carried carefully. 



' Executed by the late Frank Buckland, and coloured by Rolfe. 



