when this
takes place, cut the stitches and carefully shake out the plaster. If
a large fish, replace this by tow, moderately packed; on this lay an
irregularly oval-shaped piece of three-quarter inch board, edges
rounded and cut to the shape, and almost the length of the fish.

No wires are needed at the head and the tail (one end of the board
running into the head), but only those required to support the
specimen in its case. When this board is properly in position inside
the fish, nail the edges of the skin on it with tacks of a suitable
length. Nothing is now needed to complete the fish but the fixing of
the eyes and the colouring of the skin. The eyes are hollow, and fixed
by wax (see Chapter XII).

In cases where it is undesirable or inconvenient to mount a fish as a
whole, the head only may be treated as a taxidermic object. In this
case cut off the head behind the scapular arch, leaving sufficient of
the skin of the "neck" for nailing on the block. The head being
skinned and preserved, as above directed, is then nailed by the skin
of the neck on to a similar block to that shown in Fig. 27. The mouth
is set open when required, and the gullet and underneath the tongue
filled up and modelled with either clay, cement, or wax, the tongue
remodelled or substituted by a copy in wax or cement, the composition
and application of which is fully explained in Chapter XII.

Notes of the colour of the various parts of your specimen should have
been taken previously; in some cases, it is a good plan to make a
water-colour drawing of the whole or certain parts of your subject
when fresh.

FISH CASTING .--Casting fishes by the plaster of Paris method deserves
description, as by this means you are enabled to get correct copies of
the shapes and peculiarities of any specimen, from the smallest to the
largest. Procure some plaster of Paris of a finer quality--known as
"S.F."--than that you have been using previously in modelling mammals,
or to fill out the skins of fishes; also some tempered clay--described
in Chapter VII.--and some strips of board calculated to the depth,
width, and length of the fish you wish to "cast." The specimen having
had all the mucus washed from its most perfect side, is laid upon one
or two sheets of brown paper or common card-board ("straw-board")
covering the work-table. [Footnote: I see that Rowland Ward advises
the fish being washed with dilute vitriol (sulphuric acid and water)
to remove this m