THE REPRODUCTION OF FISHES IN PAPER PULPS 267 



many fossil fishes, whose great weight and bulk, when done 

 in plaster, are a serious consideration in any museum. An 

 instance amongst many may be given. Some years ago, the 

 Messrs. Ellis, who have been great benefactors to the Leicester 

 Museum, presented a rare fossil fish in fine condition — the Hetero- 

 lepidotus serrulatus — but retained the counterpart themselves. 

 Permission was obtained to make a mould from this, and a 

 copy was made in pulp, in which every scale, and the pattern 

 of every scale, was exact, and, when finished and coloured, 

 the model could not be distinguished from the original ; and 

 whereas the latter was as much as a man could lift, the model 

 weighed but a few ounces. 



At the present time, the compositions may be said to have 

 successfully resisted all alternations of heat and cold, exposure, 

 and some knocking about, and are therefore justly prized. 



Their strength and toughness are so great that they bear 

 considerable weight and ill-usage without bending or breaking, 

 and some idea of their extraordinary lightness has been given 

 before. The combination-pulp models (Formula 92), especially 

 if subsequently soaked in oil or brushed over with hot beeswax, 

 are somewhat heavier ; nevertheless, even their weight is hardly 

 worth mentioning, and it will be sufficient to note that the 

 model of a pike of the original weight of 20 lbs. weighs but 

 I lb. I 3 ozs. (see Figs, i and 3, Plate XIV.). 



It has been stated previously that even large reptiles 

 should not be executed by any process known in taxidermy, 

 and when the direct paper process weighs so little, and the 

 newest pulped-paper process so much less — viz. half an ounce 

 in the model to each pound the natural specimen may weigh, — 

 it will be seen that even crocodiles and large snakes may be 

 perfectly reproduced, without the horrifying results attending 

 the stuffing of such objects. 



