TAXIDERMY. 605 



error of making the body too long, legs unequal, and, if a 

 bird, the wings too wide apart or too close together. 



Now for the poison. 



Corrosive sublimate is not easy to procure, and the shortest 

 way is to get an order from a medical man to purchase a 

 pound or two at Apothecaries' Hall. Chemists may not sell 

 it without such an order. Being very difficult to dissolve, it 

 must be reduced to an almost impalpable powder. It is 

 better to have this done by a chemist, as the powder is apt to 

 fly about and is very dangerous. 



Alcohol, even when methylated, is rather costly. Waterton 

 suggested to me to try water instead of spirit. I did so, and 

 found it answer for all kinds of fur and most kinds of feathers. 

 But, owing to the closeness of the plumage of water-birds, 

 spirit is absolutely necessary for them, and they must not 

 only be thoroughly steeped, but continually turned and the 

 feathers repeatedly raised and pressed. As long as a single 

 bubble of air is left among the feathers, there will be a spot 

 which the poison has not reached, and which the moth or 

 mite is sure to find out. 



Take great care not to dip the hands in the solution. 

 Should there be a scratch on them, they will suffer intense 

 pain for a long while, and the nails will always be stained a 

 deep brown which cannot be removed but by the gradual 

 growth of a new nail. Good India-rubber gloves are very 

 useful. 



The right strength of the poison is of very great import- 

 ance, and can be secured by Waterton's plan of making it too 

 strong at first, and then adding spirit until it leaves no white 

 deposit on a black feather which has been dipped in it and 

 dried. 



For moths and butterflies, spirit is also necessary, as water 

 glides off their scale-covered wings, leaving no poison behind 

 it. They should, when "set," be dipped in the solution, and 

 placed to dry just insidfe the window, with their heads inwards, 

 so that a draught of air shall blow up the hairy down with 



