MOTJNTING- AND CASTING FISH, ETC. 183 



specimen in its case. When tliis board is properly in position 

 inside the fish, nail the edges of the skin on it with tacks of a 

 suitable length. Nothing is now needed to complete the fish but 

 the fixing of the eyes and the colouring of the skin. The eyes 

 are hollow, and fixed by wax (see Chapter XII). 



In cases where it is undesirable or inconvenient to mount a 

 fish as a whole, the head only may be treated as a taxidermic 

 object. In this case cut off the head behind the scapular arch, 

 leaving sufficient of the skin of the " neck " for nailing on the 

 block. The head being skinned and preserved, as above directed, 

 is then nailed by the skin of the neck on to a similar block to 

 that shown in Fig. 27. The mouth is set open when required, 

 and the gullet and underneath the tongue filled up and modelled 

 with either clay, cement, or wax, the tongue remodelled or sub- 

 stituted by a copy in wax or cement, the composition and appli- 

 cation of which is fully explained in Chapter XII. 



Notes of the colour of the various parts of your specimen 

 should have been taken previously ; in some cases, it is a good 

 plan to make a water-colour drawing of the whole or certain 

 parts of your subject when fresh. 



Fish Casting. — Casting fishes by the plaster of Paris method 

 deserves description, as by this means you are enabled to get 

 coiTcct copies of the shapes and peculiarities of any specimen, 

 from the smallest to the largest. Procure some plaster of Paris 

 of a finer quality — known as " S. F." — than that you have been 

 using previously in modelling mammals, or to fill out the skins of 

 fishes; also some tempered clay — described in Chapter YII. — 

 and some strips of board calculated to the depth, width, and 

 length of the fish you wish to " cast." 



The specimen having had all the mucus* washed from its most 

 perfect side, is laid upon one or two sheets of brown paper or com- 

 mon card-board (" straw-board ") covering the work-table. Decide 

 now as to the attitude you wish it to finally assume, and taking 

 some of the tempered clay, cut it into thin slices, build it on, as 

 it were, until only the upper half of the fish is exposed, build 

 under the fins — including the caudal one — and spread them out 

 as you wish ; the clay will usually stick to their under surfaces, 



* I see that Rowland Ward advises the fish being washed with dilute vitriol (sulphmic acid 

 and Mater) to remove this mucus. 



