rSEFUL AND ORNAMENTAL "SCREENS." 259 



" skins appeared wet, but not varnislied, and all the colours were 

 nicely blended in. As for the stuffed fish, their name was 

 legion, and they were there in all degrees of merit. One 

 thing, however, struck me with painful surprise; among the 

 thousands of freshwater fish I saw mounted by taxidermy, not 

 one was without those ridiculous little spears (cut from large 

 rushes, or from paper) growing from the bottom of the case, 

 each one, or each bunch of them, erect as possible, and almost 

 always arranged at equal distances apart, with maddening 

 precision. Some of the sea-fish admitted of more elastic treatment, 

 and I saw one very good exhibit of these. The artist had, 

 however, rather detracted from their undeniably good treatment 

 by modelling small stones. These were so natural as to require 

 a label explaining this; but I would remind all workers in 

 taxidermy that there is no useful end gained by modelling small 

 stones ; a great amount of labour is wasted, and the intention of 

 modelling — which is to replace the great weight of large stones 

 by extraordinary lightness — is completely overlooked. 



" Screens." — The ordinary screen intended for use is made of 

 two sheets of thick plate-glass, between which are pressed ferns, 

 butterflies, &c., the whole set in an oak or other wood frame, with 

 castors. Those intended for ornament are more lightly made. 

 Thus : A square frame, about 30in. by 24in. by 4iin. deep, is made 

 in thin fancy wood, or in pine veneered ; no front nor back is 

 fitted, merely a groove ploughed all around, with "beads," 

 to receive and to retain the glass, on each face. This frame 

 is then fixed by screws, with buttons fitting over the screw holes, 

 between two turned and carved uprights (like small bedstead 

 posts), supported by carved feet on castors ; a handle of carved 

 wood is fixed on top of the box, which completes the joiner's 

 work. The inside of the frame is papered and coloured ; the birds 

 — ^usually brightly-coloured foreign birds, or humming birds and 

 butterflies — are inserted, properly mounted on light twigs, &c., 

 and the glass beaded in, to complete all. 



One very nice " screen " was exhibited at the " Fisheries," 

 almost a reproduction of the woodcut illustrating the outside of 

 Science Gossip, with the addition of a hawk striking the king- 

 fisher. There were also two large and capital trophies, called 

 "The Rod" and "The Gun," remarkably cheap, mounted as 



