70 SOC. OP AM. TAXIDEEMISTS, ANNUAL EEPOET. 
skins whicli have once been dried the trouble is to sufficiently 
relax them. 
The legs of stuffed mammals are almost invariably too round 
and thick, especially near the body. The thigh in particular is 
fiat and broad — in some animals extremely so — and the joints are 
strongly marked. 
An important feature of every mounted mammal is the eye, 
and it may be either attractive or repulsive according to the 
treatment it receives. It should be in the right position, neither 
too far back, forward, up, nor down ; it should be of the right 
size, form, and color, and it should not burst out of the socket. 
I have seen in a museum a Yirginia deer with red glass eyes 
and round pupils sticking out from the animal’s head like huge 
angry tumors, hideous and repulsive. I have seen hsh eyes used 
for a deer and brass buttons as eyes for a seal. It is a common 
thing to see buffalo, elk, moose, and deer with round-pupiled 
glass eyes, and hardly an imitation of the true color. At present 
the public lias no faith whatever in the eyes of stuffed animals, 
and they should not have until taxidermists turn over a new leaf. 
No man should call himself a taxidermist if he does not strive 
by every means in his power to copy nature. An eye which is 
not the right size, shape, and color will not do for a stuffed 
animal, unless it is to be used as a scare-crow. It is an insult to 
the public to put in to the head of an animal glass eyes which are 
faulty in every respect, when it is easj^ to procure here in New 
York exactly what should be used. Glass eyes should be used 
with such care and study in selection that in the future the public 
will have faith in their color and shape, and regard them with 
an interest not felt at present. 
A great many large mammals are mounted witli supporting 
irons, which are inadequate to meet the strain which comes upon 
them. In some cases the iron rods are too light ; in others the 
heavy rods are not fastened to the framework with sufficient 
firmness. The result is the same in botli cases ; the animal leans 
heavily to one side, and the fault cannot be remedied without 
completely remounting the specimen. There is one museum in 
the United States in which nearly every one of the deer, elk, 
