150 PEACTICAL TAXIDERMY. 



Moles may be very well mounted by being cut across from 

 one bind limb to tbe other, just under the tail, skinned out, 

 preserved, and the skin then filled with sand or dry plaster. 



Hedgehogs, if required to be curled np, may be also filled 

 with sand, then tied up in a cloth, and hung np to dry. 



Bats are skinned out from the back or front according 

 to the position it is required to show them in. A thin piece 

 of wire is doubled ; each end is then pulled out at right angles 

 for a certain distance up its length, and pushed into the 

 hollows of the bones of the " wings." The animal is then stuffed 

 with chopped tow, sand, or sawdust, sewn up, leaving the 

 doubled wire outside; a hole is then made in a board (of the 

 length and breadth suited to the specimen), through which the 

 wire passes, and the " wings " are kept in place, until dry, by fine 

 needle-points, or entomological pins passed through the joints, 

 or by braces of cardboard. The ears, if long, are best blocked 

 with cork cut to fit the inside, and then bound round with "wrap- 

 ping cotton." The shrivelled ears of these and much larger 

 animals may be got into proper shape by careful ironing. 



Mice, small leverets, or rabbits, will be found very useful, 

 if roughly stuffed, to place in the mouth or under the feet 

 of birds or small beasts of prey. These animals, if very 

 young, had better be placed for an hour or so in benzoline or in 

 one of the hardening solutions (Nos. 15 or 16). This remark 

 applies with especial force to animals as yet unborn, which 

 the naturalist will sometimes find during work, and will wish 

 to preserve. These foetal specimens, however, let it be 

 remembered, are of the greatest consequence in the study 

 of embryology, and should always be preserved intact in 

 a fluid medium of some kind. Sometimes the operator comes' 

 across a foetus of some rarity, which, if not large, can be pre- 

 served in a small " preparation " jar, filled with best rectified 

 spirits of wine, as being not too expensive for such subjects. 



