kinned out from the back or front according to the position
it is required to show them in. A thin piece of wire is doubled; each
end is then pulled out at right angles for a certain distance up its
length, and pushed into the hollows of the bones of the "wings." The
animal is then stuffed with chopped tow, sand, or sawdust, sewn up,
leaving the doubled wire outside; a hole is then made in a board (of
the length and breadth suited to the specimen), through which the wire
passes, and the "wings" are kept in place, until dry, by fine
needle-points, or entomological pins passed through the joints, or by
braces of cardboard. The ears, if long, are best blocked with cork cut
to fit the inside, and then bound round with "wrapping cotton." The
shrivelled ears of these and much larger animals may be got into
proper shape by careful ironing.

Mice, small leverets, or rabbits, will be found very useful, if
roughly stuffed, to place in the mouth or under the feet of birds or
small beasts of prey. These animals, if very young, had better be
placed for an hour or so in benzoline or in one of the hardening
solutions (Nos. 15 or 16). This remark applies with especial force to
animals as yet unborn, which the naturalist will sometimes find during
work, and will wish to preserve. These foetal specimens, however, let
it be remembered, are of the greatest consequence in the study of
embryology, and should always be preserved intact in a fluid medium of
some kind. Sometimes the operator comes across a foetus of some
rarity, which, if not large, can be preserved in a small "preparation"
jar, filled with best rectified spirits of wine, as being not too
expensive for such subjects.

CHAPTER VII.

MODELLING OF ANIMALS BY SUBSTITUTION OF CLAY, COMPOSITION, PLASTER
CASTS, OR WAX FOR LOOSE STUFFING.

THE subject to be now treated of is of so varied a nature, requiring
so great a knowledge of anatomy, and so much experience and aptitude,
that I have deemed it advisable to reserve for a separate chapter the
explanations of the processes to be learned, to avoid, at the outset,
confusing the learner by asking him to attempt too much. This chapter
may therefore be considered a finishing one, and, perhaps, it will be
best to be candid, and say at once, that no one should attempt the
mounting of animals by this method until he has fully mastered the
principles laid down in the foregoing chapter, and has learned the
characteristic attitudes and expr