Practical taxidermy : a manual of instruction to the amateur in collecting, preserving, and setting up natural history specimens of all kinds to which is added a chapter upon the pictorial arrangement of museums / by Montagu Browne.

  • Browne, Montagu.
Date:
[1884?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Practical taxidermy : a manual of instruction to the amateur in collecting, preserving, and setting up natural history specimens of all kinds to which is added a chapter upon the pictorial arrangement of museums / by Montagu Browne. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    well brushed with stiff horse or carriage brushes, and afterwards wiped down with turpentine, followed by benzoline. When a skin is properly cleaned and finished, it may be lined with red or black cloth, or baize, and a “ pounced ” border of cloth attached. The tools for “ pouncing ” are to be bought at most saddlers’ or ironmongers’. I have been asked many times what to do, if camping out abroad, supposing you shot a tiger or a bear, and wished to preserve the skin as a “ flat.” Simply lay it on the ground and slit the sldn underneath, in a straight line through the under lip to the tip of the tail, then make four cross cuts from the median line along the inside of the limbs down to the toes, and skin out the body by stripping it in a careful manner, not allowing any pieces to be cut away, in case you might change your mind and wish it mounted as a specimen. Take out the skull, clean and preserve it, and though skinning out the toes completely, be careful to retain the claws in their seats. When the body is removed, “flesh” the skin, which means scraping and cutting away all superfluous flesh and fat, then lay it out flat and rub it well in with the burnt alum and saltpetre (Formula No. 9). In dressing thick skins, it will be advisable to make a paste of the alum and saltpetre by mixing it with a little water, and repeatedly rub this mixture into those parts where the skin is thickest, such as around the lips, eyes, ears, &c., taking care that not a wrinkle in any part escapes a thorough dressing, otherwise it will assuredly “ sweat,” and the hair come off in such places. The skin may now be rolled or folded together for travelling, but the next day, when settled in camp, it must be dressed again—twice will be quite sufficient for any but the thickest or most greasy skins; after that it must be exposed day by day to the sun and air, taking care meanwhile to guard it against all possible enemies. Treated in this manner, it has no “ nature ” in it, but is “ as stiff as a boardbefore this happens, however, it will be advisable to roll it, unless you have plenty of space at disposal on the floor of a travelling waggon, &c., in which case it may be folded to fit. A folded skin is, however, worse to treat, subsequently, than a rolled one. Valuable skins should be, when practicable, sprinkled with insect powder, tur- pentine, or pepper, and sewn up in sacking until they can be