lso nicely squared.

Your fish is now in high relief on a flat background, but, though
having correct form, it still lacks colour. How to colour plaster
satisfactorily is a puzzle which has perplexed more persons than
taxidermists. Speaking for myself, I say that, having coloured the
cast, when wet and when dry, with water-colours, used paper varnish
when dry, with water-colours and varnished and painted, and painted
and varnished the cast in oils, having used "mediums," tempera
painting, "secco"--yet I am not satisfied; there appears a want of
softness and brilliancy; probably the electro-type or wax process I am
now trying may give the desired effect.

So disgusted was I at the seeming impossibility of getting "tone" on
plaster, that I determined to try paper for the last cast or model; to
this end I took lessons at a theatre in the art of "making (paper)
faces," with the result that I now employ paper whenever practicable,
and find it answer, from a 2 lb. perch to a 2 cwt. skate. Two or three
most valuable results accrue from the substitution of paper for
plaster. First, extreme lightness combined with strength; and
secondly, of course, excellence of detail and facility of colouring in
either water or oil. For remarks upon the artistic mounting of fishes,
see Chapters XII, XIII, and XIV.

There are, I find, two excellent articles on fish-casting in "Science
Gossip for 1878," to which I must refer my readers for further
details. They agree to differ, however, in one important particular.
One writer says that plaster-work is as "cleanly as any cooking
operation, and there is no reason why ladies should not engage in it"!
The other writer speaks of it as "filthy," and, really, I feel
inclined to back his opinion; for having now used some tons of
plaster, ranging in quantities from a few pounds to 3 cwt. at a time,
I must say that, of all the diabolical messes for getting into the
hair or on the boots, and about a house or workshop, plaster is the
worst. "Matter in the wrong place," ma foi! you can't keep it in the
right.

I see that Mr. Taylor, amongst other suggestions, advises the use of
half glue and treacle (see Chapter XII.) to cast the first mould for
groups of small fishes. If these glue-moulds were backed with plaster
"piece-moulds," they might be useful for larger "undercut" specimens.

Plaster moulds and casts, it must be remembered, are, when dried,
about a quarter of their weight when wet, and the same