232 TAXIDERMY AND MODELLING 



The Casting of Fishes and Simple Objects 



As a preliminary, it may be stated that fishes are^ not in- 

 jured in the slightest degree, if moderate care be exercised, by 

 a mould being taken from them, but, if required for eating 

 afterwards, they must only be washed and hardened for a short 

 time in salt and cold water. Otherwise, they may be hardened 

 much more rapidly by placing them in formol (Formula 31), 

 alcohol of 90 per cent., a strong solution of potassium bichromate, 

 or of alum and saltpetre (Formula 44), which are enumerated in 

 their order of merit. 



When a fish is merely to be represented with the fins 

 closed or partially spread, as if lying upon a bank, etc., after 

 capture, a quick method of casting is to simply lay it upon 

 a smoothly -planed or paper -covered board, or upon glass, 

 and to build up with sand, clay, or putty the under surface of 

 the fish, so that only the upper half is seen without any under- 

 cutting left underneath. This having been surrounded by the 

 adjustable walls (see ante), plaster is poured over it in the 

 ordinary manner and allowed to set for a short time ; the 

 object is then removed, and the inside of the resultant mould 

 is either oiled or soaped, or the whole plunged into water. 

 Into this pour plaster, after surrounding it (the mould) with 

 the walls as before, and, having allowed it to set for a quarter 

 of an hour or more, according to the size of the object — and 

 consequent mass of plaster, — trim the edges, and tap all along 

 them, and at top and bottom of the mould and model, and, as 

 soon as a line appears and the halves " chatter," the model is 

 loose from the mould, which may be carefully drawn off, work- 

 ing it usually from head to tail, the mould being previously 

 marked to show which is which. Such a mould is shown by 

 Fig. I, Plate XII. 



If properly managed, the plaster model of the object 



