ERU REIS Qul T NOR NUES LA TT AR TERES DE ERES UR RO E ETA 


HINTS ON TAXIDERMY. 145 
hairs, and not to take any of them in along with the thread. 
Imitate the joints of the limbs by bending the wire at the 
proper points, and place the specimen upon the board, draw 
the wires through the holes with the pincers, and clinch 
them upon the under side. The specimen will then assume 
an erect position. The orifices of the eyes, mouth and ears, 
should be filled with cotton saturated with the preservative, 
and the artificial eyes put in while the eyelids are yet plia- 
ble. The lips can be secured in their proper position by 
means of pins, and the nostrils distended to their natural 
size, with pellets of cotton inserted within. In the larger 
mammalia the orifices of the head should always be a- 
nointed with spirits of turpentine. If any irregularities ap- 
pear in the skin, they must be pressed down and modelled 
into shape with the hand. The muscles of the various parts 
of the body can be exactly imitated by making casts of 
plaster of Paris, and fitting them within the skin in lieu 
of other stuffing material. 
Those gigantic beasts which roam about the forests of 
tropical countries, such as the elephant, giraffe, etc., have 
to be mounted upon wooden models. Perhaps the method 
cannot be better illustrated than by giving an account of the 
manner in which an elephant was mounted at the Jardin du 
Roi, at Paris, as related by Capt. Thomas Brown, F.L.S., 
in his work entitled “The Taxidermist’s Manual :” 
“The dead elephant being extended on the ground, the dimensions 
Were all taken and correctly noted at the time. M. Lassaigne, cab 
maker to the establishment, invented a large rule for that purpose, which 
th: 
an inch in thickness. This metal is much better adapted than any other 
iiir 
Constructed, of its natural size. The elephant was placed upon its back 
by means of four-corded pulleys fastened to the platform. An incision, in 
the form of a double cross, was then made in the lower side, the central 
reaching from the mouth to the anus; the two cuts were made from 
the left leg, on both sides, to the opposite right legs. The trunk was 
AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. III. 
