32 
SO(\ OF AM. TAXIDERMISTS, ANNUAL REPORT. 
ions? Is it possible to reproduce all these features mu tli out using 
some material wdiich can be moulded at will, wdiicli works easily 
and kindly, and, above all, wbicb M^heii once placed will forever 
I’etain the exact form wbicb lias been imparted to it? 
My second example muII be a common skate or sting ray, fresh 
from the ocean. In this we have an animal nearly round, of a 
very flat appearance, and wutb a skin wbicb is thin and smooth. 
The body is, we will say, two feet in diameter, only three inches in 
thickness at the centre, from Avbence its thickness rapidly de- 
creases outwardly until half way from the centre the body is only 
half an inch in thickness, and the marginal portion is merely tAvo 
thicknesses of skin. When once skinned this animal could easily 
be stuffed to resemble a large round ball, and Avitb fibrous filling 
it is certain to attain about tAAuce its normal thickness. If any- 
one thinks it possible to All one of these animals Avitb fibrous 
tilling and make it assume and retain the size and shape it poss- 
essed when in the flesh, I ask him to try the experiment and 
exhibit the result. Of a surety the result Avill be an animal 
\Adiich is puffed up to nearly twice its proper size, not smooth 
on the upper surface, and A\uth the boundary line between art and 
nature very shai'ply drawn near the outer margin of the body. 
By Ailing AAuth clay the body can easily he made quite as thin as 
desired and also perfectly smooth, from which, so far as the (day 
filling is concerned, there Avill he no departure. 
The subject may be briefly formulated as folloAvs : 
First. When the skin under treatment is shrmflcen smaller 
than its natural proportions, clay cannot be used, hut must give 
place to tow or other fibrous material AAdiich is elastic and can be 
})acked tightly to stretch the skin to its true projiortions. 
Second. When there is such an abundance of loose skin that 
the filling of it all Avould manifestly exceed the proportions of 
life, or, Avhen the subject must be worked into features of flat- 
ness, flabbiness, Mudiikles, hollows or elevations, then a plastic 
filling material must be used. 
O 
In order to still more clearly indicate the occasions Avlieii I con- 
sider it advisable to use clay, I will attempt to divide them into 
three classes, namely : 
1st. Filling for entire animals, such as very small maimnals, 
sniall fishes of all kinds, all flat-hodied fishes such as rays and 
soles, and snakes generally. 
