80 THE TAXIDERMIST'S GUIDE. 



ployed in this service; these are most voracious animals, and if a 

 skeleton is placed near one of their nests, or in an empty sugar 

 cask, where they resort in plenty, they will perform the dissection 

 with much greater expedition, and equally well as the Ants. 

 Wasps have been known to clean the skeleton on a mouse or 

 small bird in three or four hours, while Ants would require a week 

 to effect it. 



When the animal is of a large size, the ligaments are some- 

 times unable to sustain the weight of the bones, in which case, 

 an iron wire of sufficient thickness is passed through the centre 

 of the back bone, which must pass out anteriorly, so as to fix the 

 head to the cervical vertebra. It is made in the form of two 

 forks, the one for the support of the anterior, the otfier for the 

 exterior part ; for this purpose two pieces of iron wire are taken 

 the length of the skeleton, they are twisted together, leaving a 

 fork at each extremity, and are then both fixed to the board on 

 which the skeleton is to be placed. One of these should enter 

 the ribs and encompass the back bone, between the scapular 

 bones on each shoulder ; the other two should pass between the 

 bones of the pelvis. 



It not unusually happens that pieces of the skeleton detach 

 one from another, in which case, two holes are bored in the ends 

 of the bones, which are separated, and are re-united by means of 

 small brass wires. 



ARTIFICIAL SKELETONS. 



Skeletons of man and animals, of a midling and large size, 

 cannot be made in the manner described for natural skeletons. 

 In this case, the bones, covered by the flesh, are immersed in 

 water, and allowed to remain without changing it, until the soft 

 parts begin to get putrid, when the animal matter is easily 

 removed ; and by repeating the maceration two or three times, it 

 may all be completely abstracted. The duration necessary for 

 first maceration will depend upon the state of the atmosphere, 

 being always much shorter in Summer than in Winter. 



After the fleshy matter has been completely freed from the 

 bones, they should be exposed on the roof of a house, or other 

 convenient situation, until they are rendered quite white, and free 

 from grease. _ * 



