Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 1 (1897).djvu/443

Rh speaking, till it literally hasn't a leg to stand on; and as soon as his back is turned, the unfortunate artist kicks it out of the window, or plays hockey with it in his despair and rage. I have been through the mill myself and I know what it is, and, though decidedly unpleasant at the time, it certainly does one good. At the present day when natural history is becoming so popular, when there are numerous small and great societies, each of which has its periodical meetings for the exhibition of specimens, &c, it is a very great boon to the members thereof to know how to mount the various objects in which they are interested in a proper permanent and scientific manner, and so far as I am aware there is no periodical or magazine which regularly opens its pages for the discussion of matter of this kind. To do so embraces a very wide range, and a variety of subjects. One man collects the eggs, another preserves the whole or part of the skeleton of a bird, another keeps the skins for reference and comparison, and the fourth mounts his birds in natural attitudes. The same with the collector of mammals and fish; another may go in for casting models of his special objects. Then there is the question of suitably casing and housing all these treasures, and preserving them from the ravages of moth, dust, damp, &c. Nor is it only with Vertebrate Zoology that Taxidermy is concerned; there is the setting of insects and their larvæ; the preserving of shells, starfish, crabs, et hoc genus omne; the use of spirit for many of the lower forms of life; and many more objects of the animal world and methods of preserving them, all of which are included in the comprehensive title of Taxidermy. Therefore I venture to hope that, as the pages of the 'Zoologist' have been so courteously opened to us for the discussion and interchange of ideas and methods in connection with the preservation of the various members of the animal world in its broadest sense, there will be no lack of contributors to the matter in hand. In this, as in most things, an ounce of practice is worth a pound of theory; and to a beginner I would say, have a few lessons from a careful first-class man, and you will learn more than by reading the best book on the subject in existence. It is when one has acquired some practical knowledge of the matter that books—good ones that is—and the interchange of ideas with others, becomes of the greatest use and assistance. One word more. I