TAXIDERMY— DE OMNIBUS REBUS. 415 



speaking, till it literally hasn't a leg to stand on; and as soon as his 

 back is turned, the unfortunate artist kicks it out of the window, 

 or plays hockey with it in his despair and rage. I have been 

 through the mill myself and I know what it is, and, though 

 decidedly unpleasant at the time, it certainly does one good. At 

 the present day when natural history is becoming so popular, 

 when there are numerous small and great societies, each of which 

 has its periodical meetings for the exhibition of specimens, &c, 

 it is a very great boon to the members thereof to know how to 

 mount the various objects in which they are interested in a 

 proper permanent and scientific manner, and so far as I am 

 aware there is no periodical or magazine which regularly opens 

 its pages for the discussion of matter of this kind. To do so 

 embraces a very wide range, and a variety of subjects. One man 

 collects the eggs, another preserves the whole or part of the 

 skeleton of a bird, another keeps the skins for reference and 

 comparison, and the fourth mounts his birds in natural attitudes. 

 The same with the collector of mammals and fish ; another may 

 go in for casting models of his special objects. Then there is the 

 question of suitably casing and housing all these treasures, and 

 preserving them from the ravages of moth, dust, damp, &c. Nor 

 is it only with Vertebrate Zoology that Taxidermy is con- 

 cerned ; there is the setting of insects and their larvaB ; the 

 preserving of shells, starfish, crabs, et hoc genus omne ; the use of 

 spirit for many of the lower forms of life; and many more objects 

 of the animal world and methods of preserving them, all of which 

 are included in the comprehensive title of Taxidermy. Therefore 

 I venture to hope that, as the pages of the * Zoologist' have been 

 so courteously opened to us for the discussion and interchange 

 of ideas and methods in connection with the preservation of the 

 various members of the animal world in its broadest sense, there 

 will be no lack of contributors to the matter in hand. In this, 

 as in most things, an ounce of practice is worth a pound of 

 theory ; and to a beginner I would say, have a few lessons from a 

 careful first-class man, and you will learn more than by reading 

 the best book on the subject in existence. It is when one has 

 acquired some practical knowledge of the matter that books — 

 good ones that is— and the interchange of ideas with others, 

 becomes of the greatest use and assistance. One word more. I 



