TAXIDERMY, the name given to the art of putting up natural history speci mens in the dried state. It includes the skinning and stuffing of fishes, reptiles, amphibians, birds, and mammals; insects and other invertebrata. But it does not properly comprise the making of wet zo ological preparations which are to be pre served in spirits; nor, strictly speaking, does it include the articulating of skele tons, though this is usually treated of in books on taxidermy.
For the skinning of animals a few tools, such as scalpels, scissors, and for ceps, are required. Incisions must be made in certain directions. Care has to be taken not to stretch the skin in de taching it from the body, and it is neces sary to avoid soiling the plumage of birds or the hair and fur of mammals with blood or grease. The skull and certain wing and leg bones are left in their place to preserve as perfectly as pos sible the form of these parts in case of the skin being afterward mounted. Ar senical soap is largely used for preserv ing skin. To preserve bird skins some prefer powdered white arsenic (arseni ous acid) either alone or mixed with powdered alum. But sometimes pow
dered oak bark and a little camphor are addad, the proportions being arsenic 1 part, alum, 1 part, bark 2 parts, cam phor part. These dry powders should be well rubbed, and the soapy mixtures carefully brushed into the wet surface of skins. For cleaning feathers, and es pecially those that are light colored, pow dered plaster of Paris is very effective. Wherever. bird skins or the fur-covered skins of mammals are kept, camphor or naphthaline should be present. Benzene is also very useful. Butterflies, moths, and other insects require to be kept in drawers or boxes of a peculiar construc tion to prevent the escape of the vapor of camphor or other preservative.
Before the taxidermist can stuff or mount well he requires some training in anatomy and modeling, and a knowledge of the external forms of animals, as well as some acquaintance with their habits.