ON THE MOUNTING OF CRUSTACEANS. 
75 
soon come away from the body, leaving the modified legs that 
snrroimd the month attached to the body. To scrape the flesli 
from the (larapace and exposed portions of the body is an easy 
matter, and it is only needful to exercise a little care not to scrape 
through the upper joints of the legs. To clean the legs it will 
be necessary to make some small hooked scrapers by fiattening, 
sharpening, and bending one end of a piece of annealed wire 
sufficiently long to run tlie entire length of the leg. These 
scrapers are inserted in openings made between the joints of each 
leg and the meat drawn out, an operation mucli more quickly 
described than performed. Usually it is most convenient to 
make tlie openings on the upper side of the leg, as it is a very 
simple matter to close them with a little glue and cotton in the 
manner hereafter described. After carefully scraping the interior 
of each leg, wash thoroughly with a syringe to finish the work 
of cleansing. As crustaceans are particularly liable to the attacks 
of dermestes, they should be carefully poisoned, cither by a liberal 
application of thin arsenical soap, or, better still, by soaking for 
two or three hours in a bath made by dissolving arsenic in hot 
water. If the soap is used, see that it is worked well into the 
legs, as well as every nook and cranny of the body, by means of 
a small brush. The method of wiring varies a little according to 
the desired position of the finished piece, but, owing to the na- 
ture of the subject, but little variety of attitude is possible The 
best wire to use is zinc, as it ne'-ur stains by rusting, Imt, unfor- 
tunately it is, so far as I know, impossible to procure zinc wire 
ill this country except by special importation, and iron wire must 
ordinarily be made to answer. It is well to wrap iron wire thinly 
with tow. If the animal is to be walking with the body clear 
from the ground the wire must be passed through the tips of the 
claws, and in many species which, like the common blue crab, 
have sharply-pointed claws, it will be necessary to remove a little 
of the tip in order to render this operation possible. Ordinarily 
it will be quite sufficient to support the animal on four legs, thus 
leaving the others intact. The wires for the large claws must 
be carefully worked to the very tip, and not infrequently these 
claws are so heavy that they must be allowed to rest on the ped- 
estal. The leg-wires should be so long that the free inner end 
