bulk of dried
(not dry) plaster is not half the weight of dried clay.

A very scientific way of getting the correct shape of a fish for
mounting by taxidermy is to take a cast of the specimen and to then
adjust the skin, stuffed by the dry-plaster process, into the cavity
of the mould, suffering all to dry therein.

Fishes are now and then mounted in halves, should one side be very
badly mangled; the effect is not very good, however, and should not be
resorted to but in extreme cases.

Large fishes, such as sharks, rays, and sturgeons of great size and
weight, must be cast by the "piece-mould" process--described in
Chapter XII. The mounting of such as these, by processes of taxidermy,
differs from all previously described in this chapter. When of
excessive size and weight, they may be "set up" with wood and iron
(see Chapter VII.), or if smaller--say, up to 5 cwt.--may be managed
by being cut underneath along the stomach, from head to tail, and
mounted by two short iron rods being screwed into a beam of wood, or
bar of iron fitted into the body, now filled out with hay, straw, or,
better still, clean shavings, supplemented by tow here and there.

When all is sewn up, and the mouth--if open--modelled by any of the
methods described in Chapter XII, the short iron rods protruding from
each end of the fish must be let into metal sockets (iron gas pipes
will often do) screwed into iron feet, supporting all clear from the
floor of the museum or room they are to be exhibited in.

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CHAPTER IX.

SKINNING, PRESERVING, AND MOUNTING REPTILES.

THE chief requirement in preserving reptiles is a fine and delicate
hand, in order to deal successfully with these mostly thin-skinned
objects. I will now take one of the easiest reptiles as our first
study, viz, the common snake.

Formerly, by the old method of skinning, the bodies of all snakes were
removed through an incision made along the skin of the stomach. This
was a mistake, for the smaller snakes may be skinned through the
mouth, in this wise: Open the jaws of the snake to their fullest
extent, taking care, if a venomous one, not to scratch the fingers
with the fangs, which, in the adder or viper, lie folded backward
along the roof of the mouth. If the fangs are not required to be
shown, the safest plan will be to cut them away with a pointed pair of
scissors.

Holding the snake by the back of the neck with the left hand, pu