Casting Parts of Mammals in the Flesh.—Although it is usually impossible to carry more than ten or fifteen pounds of plaster into the field when you go off on a collecting trip, a quantity sufficient for a special purpose is often worth its weight in silver dollars. But many a fine subject comes entire to the laboratory, where the taxidermist can work his will upon it. If I have never done any other good thing in my life, I believe I have at least taught some of our best American taxidermists the usefulness and value of plaster casts taken from the flesh. It is only a few hours' work to make a mould and cast of the entire side of an animal as large as a large dog, or even a lion, and still less to take half the head, or the nose, a fore leg, or hind leg. Once we had an opportunity to cast the entire head of an immense bull moose, and right greedily did we seize it. The resultant cast has been of priceless value to us as an exact record of the form of a wonderful head. If you wish to do a fine piece of work, and have the animal in the flesh, by all means make a cast of one whole side of it. It will repay its cost ten times over. No record of form is equal to a cast, even though it be a poor one. I once made a mould of one entire side of the head of a large leopard in twenty minutes. It is about an hour's work to make a good mould of the entire head of a monkey, or two legs of a tiger.

The principles of this work have already been stated, and there is little more to be said. If the specimen is a large one, lay it upon the floor, build up around it with sand, or even wet sawdust, and arrange to take one side of the animal's head, or entire form, as the case may be. To take the two legs it will be necessary to first fill plaster under each one to make a separate piece. In order to keep the plaster from sticking to the hair, fill the hair full of thick clay-water, or thin clay, and plaster it down with the pasty mass so that the plaster Paris will not run into it. Coat the whiskers and eyelids with warm wax, or fill them full of clay. Do this thoroughly, to save the hair and save trouble. A little hair will stick in the mould anyway, but when you take the mould off, work the animal slowly and carefully from the mould, perhaps pouring in a little water to facilitate matters.

Always make a waste mould in these cases, to save time. If your cast breaks in two while you are chiseling the mould off, go ahead more carefully, and when you are done, chip the broken edges at the back, wet them with water, and stick them together with plaster. Small casts can be stuck together with shellac. If your mould breaks in pieces while you are taking it off, don't be discouraged, but simply put the pieces together, back them up with more plaster, and come up smiling for the next round.

It is often necessary to cast skulls or teeth, to put in skins that are being mounted, though it is better to carve a skull out of soft wood.

Casting Fishes.—Fishes are easy and interesting subjects to cast.

Usually only one side is taken, and the cast is then mounted on a flat slab, or perhaps on two brass standards. The full method of procedure is as follows:

Wash off the mucus with alum-water. Put some dry alum on the side to be cast, to harden the soft edges of the fins, and make every scale stand out distinctly. Clean the fish carefully, close the mouth, adjust the eye and the gills. Lay the fish on its side, with the side to be cast uppermost. Take some modeling clay, beat it out, and roll it into a smooth, square cake with parallel sides. With a small wire cut a section of this cake, and place it under each fin, so that the fin will be held in position as in life.

To make a piece mould, make it in three pieces, thus: Put up a wall of clay around the head from the base of the dorsal fin to the base of the anal fin, keeping the clay wall a little distance away from the head and body. With plaster Paris fill in the space thus left, up to the median line of the fish, but no higher.

With a knife work the plaster under the edge of the fish, and let it harden; then put two countersinks in each side. For the main piece, mix some dry color in enough plaster to coat the fish one-eighth of an inch thick, make it thin, and pour over with a spoon. When covered thinly, blow hard upon it, all over, to make it take the scales sharply; then put on enough more to make the colored coat an eighth of an inch thick. Let this harden, then put on the thick coat of white plaster, which is to be chiseled off, as this is supposed to be a waste mould. In making the cast, if it be possible make it before the mould gets dry, so that the latter will chisel off easily. Pour the mould nearly full of plaster, then set a piece of wood in at the back to afford a means of screwing the cast to a panel, or inserting standards. After the cast is made it must, of course, be carefully painted, which is another matter, and is treated elsewhere.

Casting Reptiles.—After all the detailed directions that have been already given on this subject it is not necessary to speak further of methods. Mr. Joseph Palmer, of the National Museum, has produced such pleasing and artistic representations of reptiles of all sorts, especially serpents and tortoises, it would seem that perfection in this line has been reached. His serpents are all on imitation rocks, trees, or earth, and in about all the attitudes they would assume in life. They are represented as crawling, sleeping, fighting, striking, and threatening. By the introduction of wires in the moulds while making the casts, they are made to act quite naturally. Of course they have been carefully and artistically painted, and half the credit for their beauty is therefore due to the colorist. Lizards of many species, large and small, and also tortoises and turtles of every American species, are thus represented with great success. This interesting collection is well worthy of study; but to the taxidermist who is not also a first-rate artist in oil colors, this method is beyond his powers.