SETTING UP FISHES BY TAXIDERMIC METHODS 221 



head, this must be reeltified by lifting the opercular region and 

 inserting more " stuffing." The head, " neck," and tail must 

 be properly adjusted afterwards, and, by pressing and patting 

 the skin deftly with the hands and with the wooden bat 

 previously mentioned, all the lumpiness may be reduced and 

 the underlying putty or composition rendered even. 



In arranging the head, some pointed wires, hammered into 

 the board on each side of that part, will be found useful 

 for keeping it in position, and, if the mouth is to be shown 

 widely opened — a most reprehensible practice unless there 

 is a distinct reason for it, — one wire may go through the 

 "nostril," another under the tongue, and a third or more, 

 parallel to it, under the jaws. If any of the teeth are loose in 

 their sockets, they must be arranged in proper positions, and 

 the rays and membrane of the gill-covering must be brought 

 into place, and kept so, either by fine stitches or by " needle 

 points" driven in, and finally wrapped with hemp or cotton 

 (in the same manner as a bird's feathers), to keep them from 

 springing up in drying. 



The fins are now to be displayed by placing underneath 

 them pieces of sheet cork (entomological cork), kept to the 

 height required by elevating each piece upon a wire driven into 

 the board, laying the fins, still kept wet, upon the cork, and 

 pinning pieces of cardboard over them, or binding them with 

 cotton. 



As a means of still better preserving the skin and keep- 

 ing down any smell resulting from its drying, a wash of 

 the carbolic formula (No. 34) may be passed over the whole 

 of the outside, and, as this dries in an hour or so, the skin may 

 afterwards be varnished with a thin coat of clear ''paper- 

 varnish," which has the advantage of setting the scales firmly in 

 their seats and of preventing the skin from rising. As carbolic 

 has, however, the effect of bleaching and removing the colour 



