WARD’S NATURAL SCIENCE BULLETIN. 
15 
skin and tlie manikin wherever necessary to per- 
fect the form. 
After completing the body and neck, the head 
remained the most difficult part of all. 
The trunk was made with straw wound upon 
an iron rod and bound into shape, and then the 
whole head was covered with clay. _ By means 
of this plastic and yet adlvesive material we were 
enabled to make all the various hollows and ele- 
vations on the head and the deep wrinkles of the 
trunk so characteristic of that organ. By means 
of iron pins and wooden props the head was kept 
in its exact shape until thoroughly dry, after 
which no change was possible. 
Having finished the work of stuffing, the animal 
was allowed to stand about three months for the 
skin to dry and shrink. At the end of that period 
the seams of the skin were filled with papier 
mache and painted over, the inside of the trunk 
tinted the color of life, and the large animal was 
declared finished. 
Having received special instructions to spare 
no pains in making the animal as perfect as pos- 
sible in every respect, the time occupied in 
mounting if was necessarily long. The work of 
mounting may be set down as three months con- 
stant work for two men, aside from the assist- 
ance rendered by the carpenter and the blacksmith 
of the Establishment. 
As soon as the animal was finished it was 
shipped on a flat car to the Museum of Compara- 
tive Zoblogv, Cambridge, Mass., having been 
ordered by Prof. Agassiz. 
The Cambridge elephant, as completed, stands 
9 feet 5 incites in height above its pedestal, and 
is the largest of its kind to be seen in any Ameri- 
can museum. W. T. PL. 
-» »-» — — — 
Brachiopods. 
The modern members of this group possess 
great interest, not alone for the zoologist, but 
also for the geologist, as representing one of the 
earliest forms of animal life yet found. Both 
divisions of the order extend back far into the 
Palaeozoic, and both — surviving all the catastro- 
phies which destroyed so many of their contem- 
poraries — have come down to us without more 
than specific variation. 
The Brachiopods are all marine animals, en- 
closed in a bivalve shell, the two valves of which 
are dorsal and ventral, instead of right and 
left as in Lamellibranchs. The valves are 
bilaterally symmetrical, but unequal, the ventral 
being the larger, and often overhanging 
the dorsal in a “beak.” Passing between the 
two valves, or through a foramen in apex of 
beak, is a tough, fleshy pedicel by which the 
animal is attached to rock, coral or other object. 
The larval Brachiopod bears a very striking 
resemblance to a Polyzodn, and a careful study 
of the adult structure shows this resemblance to 
be more than superficial. The development of 
the Brachiopoda, according to Prof. Morse, 
shows their close relations with the worms; but 
this view, Prof Huxley thinks, does not go to 
disprove “their affinities with the Polyzoa, on the 
one hand, and with the higher Mollusca, on the 
other.” 
This order is easily separable into two 
groups, Articulata and Inarticulata, the latter 
having no hinge, while in the former the two 
valves are articulated very closely. The Articu- 
lata have a branchial skeleton, which is lacking 
in the Inarticulata, and there is also considerable 
difference between the two in the arrangement 
of the muscles. Each group is represented in 
modern seas by one principal genus and several 
others of lesser importance. Of these two leading 
genera we can now furnish fine specimens, as 
follows: 
Lingula anatina, Java, in alcohol, .25 
“ “ Java, shell,.. 10 
Terehmtula, Australia, shell, 40 
“ New Zealand, shell, 25 
Mediterranean, shell, .... .30 
ETHNOLOGY. 
We have been adding a great variety of mate- 
rial to that already on hand, by extensive impor- 
tations, through Prof. Ward, direct from the 
Malay Archipelago, Australia, New Ireland, 
New Britain, New Hebrides, New Zealand, and 
the South Pacific generally, including clubs, 
paddles, shields, matting, masks, canoe carvings, 
boomerangs, armlets and other personal orna- 
ments of shell and bone; idols of wood and 
chalk, many giving evidence of Phallic worship. 
Finally, 
SKULLS OF RACES. 
Skull of ancient Egyptian (Mummy), $12 to $15 
Ditto: Nubian. $12 
Ditto: Siamese $8 to $10 
Ditto: Malay (Java) $10 
Ditto: Maori (New Zealand) $6 to $10 
Ditto: Peruvian ..$12 to $15 
Ditto: Cheyenne Indian. $12 
Ditto: Pawnee $4 to $10 
Ditto: Sioux.. $7 to $10 
Ditto: Flat Head $10 to $15 
Ditto: Huron $15 
Ditto; Indian, Kodiak (Alaska) $10 
Skeleton of Sioux Indian. Disar- 
ticulate $70 
Ditto: Mounted. $100 
Ditto: Maori — Mounted. $100 
Ditto: Australian Aborigines (N. S. 
Wales) $80 
Also, 
TYPICAL CRANIA COPIED IN 
PLASTER. 
* 
On page 17 of Catalogue of Human Skeletons 
and Anatomical Preparations is noticed this 
series of thirty-seven casts of skulls of various 
races of mankind, which was prepared under the 
supervision of Prof. Flourens, director of the 
department of Anthropology in the museum of 
the Jardin des Plantes at Par's. This series is 
invaluable to the student of Ethnology or Anthro- 
pology, the originals from which the casts were 
taken having been carefully selected so as to pre- 
sent typical specimens of the races inhabiting the 
principal ethnographical regions of the world. 
Price of series, boxed, $80. 
4 » » 
Removing Grease from Bird Skins. 
Although it is not an easy task to remove 
grease either from the inside or outside of a bird 
skin, yet it can be accomplished by the follow- 
ing methods, seconded with a little patience: 
If the inside is greasy sprinkle liberally with 
plaster of paris, and scrape with a blunt knife, 
renewing the plaster from time to time so as to 
thoroughly absorb the grease. Should a bird’s 
feathers be greasy — and in a white bird the 
chances are nine to one that they will be — wash 
the greasy places freely with spirits of turpen- 
tine, and then pour on plaster, replacing it with 
fresh as soon as it has become saturated with 
turpentine, at the same time brushing and mov- 
ing the feathers about in order that the plaster 
may penetrate. Finish by beating with a light, 
elastic stick to remove ail the plaster. As may 
be supposed, this is a somewhat tedious process, 
especially if the bird be large, but the results are 
excellent and well worth the trouble. The best 
time to cleanse a bird that is being mounted is 
after it has been wired and sewn up, but before 
placing on a perch. 
“I was surprised and delighted to find how 
greatly the perfection of the specimens selected 
for casting enhances the importance of your series 
of Casts of Fossils, and I truly congratulate you 
on the success you have achieved, and hope you 
may meet with all the approbation you so richly 
deserve. * * * I now write to ascertain for 
what price I can obtain a complete series of all 
those of your casts which were taken from ori- 
ginal specimens. * * * I wish thus to testify 
to the value of your specimens for exhibition in 
a great museum, and I would add, that for teach- 
ing they are admirably suited, and I would gladly 
recommend their purchase to all the larger insti- 
tutions of learning.” 
Extract from letter from the late Prof L. Agassiz. 
The Owl-Critic. 
“ Who stuffed that white owl?”„No one spoke'in the 
shop ; 
The barber was busy and he couldn’t stop : 
The customers waiting their turns were all reading 
The Daihj, the Herald , the Post, little heeding 
The young man who blurted out such a blunt ques- 
tion ; 
Not one raised a head, or even made a suggestion ; 
And the barber kept on shaving. 
“ Don’t you see, Mister Brown,” 
Cried the youth with a frown, 
“ How wrong the whole thing is. 
How preposterous each wing is, 
How flattened the head is, howl jammed .down the 
neck is— 
In short, the whole owl, what an ignorant wreck 'tis ! 
I make no apology ; 
I’ve learned owl-eology. 
I’ve passed days and nights in a hundred collections, 
And cannot be blinded to any deflections 
Arising from unskillful fingers that fail 
To stuff a bird right, from his beak to his tail. 
Mister Rrown ! Mister Brown ! 
Do take that bird down, 
Or you’ll soon be the laughing-stock all over town I ” 
And the barber kept on shaving. 
“ I’ve studied owls, 
And other night fowls, 
And I tell you 
What I know to be true : 
An owl cannot roost 
With his limbs so unloosed ; 
No owl in this world 
Ever had his claws curled. 
Ever had his legs slanted. 
Ever had his tail canted, 
Ever had his neck screwed 
Into that attitude. 
He can’t do it, because 
’Tis against all bird laws. 
Anatomy teaches. 
Ornithology preaches, 
An owl has a toe 
That can't turn out so ! 
I’ve made the white owl my study for years, 
And to see such a job almost moves me to tears ! 
Mister Brown, I’m amazed 
You should be so gone crazed 
As to put up a bird 
In that posture absurd ! 
To look at that owl really brings on a dizziness ; 
The man who stuffed him didn’t half know his busi- 
ness ! ” 
And the barber kept on shaving. 
“ Examine those eyes, 
I’m filled with surprise 
Taxidermists should pass 
Off on you such poor glass,; 
So unnatural thev seem 
They’d make Audubon scream, 
And John Burroughs laugh 
To encounter such chaff. 
Do take t-hat bird down ; 
Have him stuffed again, Brown ! ” 
And the barber kept on shaving. 
“ With some sawdust and bark 
I could stuff in the dark 
An owl better than that. 
I could make an old hat 
Look more like an owl 
Than that horrid fowl, 
Stuck up there so stiff like a side of coarse leather. 
In fact, about Mm there’s not one natural feather.” 
Just then, with a wink and a sly normal lurch. 
The owl very gravely got down from his perch, 
Walked round, and regarded his fault-finding critic 
(Who thought he was stuffed) with a glance analytic, 
And then fairly hooted, as if he would say: 
“ Your learning’s at fault this time, anyway ; 
Don’t waste it again on a live bird, I pray. 
I’m an owl ; you’re another. Sir Critic, good-day ! ” 
And the barber kept on shaving. 
Harper's Monthly, June, 1879. 

Birds of Paradise. 
We have as stated in our last issue a number 
of skins of tlie beautiful and rare Paraclisea 
raggiana from the southern coast of New Guinea. 
These are in excellent condition, and are offered 
as skins at the following prices: 
Males — perfect specimens - - - $10.00 
“ slightly inferior quality $7.00 to $9.00 
“ young and without long plumes 4.00 
Females — adult 5.00 
Cost of mounting the above is $10 for males 
with spread wings on ebonized perches, or on 
walnut stand $9. Females and young are 
mounted for $3.50. For reasons given in our 
last number the collector who secured these 
skins will prepare no more. 
