NATURAL HISTORY JEWELLERY. 261 



should be fixed on a shield of some fancy wood, tlie back of 

 •whiclL mnst be polished, and made to slide up and down on an 

 upright standard, springing from carved legs. 



Still more handsome screens are those intended to flank the 

 fireplace. These are, however, ovals of glass, set in carved or 

 gilded frames, which are made to slide up or down on a standard 

 or upright, supported by a carved tripod. Humming birds or 

 insects are included between the glasses of the carved oval. 

 These screens are made of all sizes, the standard of some 

 standing 5ft. to 6ft. high, the ovals being often 3ft. by 2ft. ; but 

 smaller ones are constantly made. 



Jewellery. — Following the example of the ladies who indi- 

 rectly send expeditions to " frosty Caucasus or glowing Ind " to 

 take tithe of animals for the sake of their skins, of birds for 

 their plumes, and of insects for their silk, to be used in adorn- 

 ment, society demands that objects of natural history should 

 not be all relegated to the forgotten shelves of dusty museums, 

 but live as " things of beauty and joys for ever." Hence the new 

 alliance between the goldsmith and the taxidermist, resulting in 

 a thousand ingenious combinations of nature and art — a list of 

 a few of which may not be unacceptable as hints. 



For earrings, two leopard's claws are mounted as miniature 

 Hobin Hood bugles, the mouth and bell of each being of gold, 

 attached to which is a chain depending by its centre from the 

 €ar-wire. Two tiger's claws placed base to base, their hooks 

 pointing inwards, are strung and clasped with gold, thus 

 forming the lyre of the Tragic Muse, as a brooch or ornament 

 for the breast. Beetles, usually of the genus chrysochroa, also, 

 are set as earrings. Humming birds' heads, their throats 

 surrounded with a fillet of gold, form also handsome brooches. 

 The feet of the various species of grouse and owls are capped 

 with silver or gold (in which is set a cairngorm), the toes 

 tipped, or the tarsus banded with silver or gold, to form clasps 

 or brooches. 



Pins for the sterner sex are mounted up from the teeth of 

 foxes or dogs, or more curiously of their noses even. Hares' 

 ears are also mounted for both sexes, especially for the Scotch 

 markets. To turn from the adornment of the person to that 

 of the house, we find horses' hoofs mounted in silver or electro 



