Practical Taxidermy Part 20

The object of this tool is to run in under bones and to cut and drag out pieces of flesh through small openings.

Measurements being taken and a board provided on which to trace the outline, select the best side of the fish--by which I mean the side most free from bruises or "gaff" marks. Cover this with thin paper (cap paper) or muslin, which readily adheres by the natural mucus peculiar to fish. This process, it will be seen, keeps the scales fast in their seats during the operation of skinning, and gives also a "set," as it were, to the skin. The fins and tail must not, however, be allowed to dry until the fish is finished. To avoid this and the consequent splitting of these members, keep them constantly damped by wet cloths or tow wrapped around them.

Lay the worst side uppermost, and then cut the skin from head to tail in a straight line. A mark called the subdorsal or lateral line is an excellent guide for this. With a strong pair of scissors,--or rather shears, cut through the scapular arch (the large bone beneath the gills--see Fig. 34, A). Slip the knife under the edges of the cut skin, and lift the skin the whole of the way up at about an inch in on both sides of the cut. Having carefully separated this from the flesh, take the broad knife in your hand, and, holding the skin lightly in the middle, with a sc.r.a.ping motion of the knife on the skin free it from the flesh. If the knife is held in a proper manner, slanting inward towards you, this will be done very easily. Take care, however, when approaching the fins not to cut outward too much, or you will rip them out of the skin. Fig. 34 shows the point where we have arrived, B being the loosened skin and C the flesh denuded of that skin.

Fig. 34--Diagram of pike, showing skin removed on one side from lower half of body.

Skin out the remaining part up to the back, holding the knife in the same manner; the fish is now half way skinned, and holding only by the fins. Slip the scissors carefully underneath the bones of each fin and cut them away from the inside. Do not be afraid of leaving a little flesh attached, as this can be easily cut away from the inter-spinous bones afterwards, it being better to have too much flesh attached to them than to find you have cut the skin through on the other side. It is a matter of little importance as to which fin you cut away first; but let me a.s.sume that you begin at the under a.n.a.l fin, and, having cut this away carefully, you now find that it is still held at a little distance above it by. the orifice of the vent. A great deal of care is required here to cut the attachment away so as not to pierce through to the outside; a piece of wool comes in very handily to push in, to stop the flow of blood, etc.

Now turn your attention to the only fin on a pike's back, the second or lower dorsal one, which cut away in the same careful manner as before. Working down toward the tail, get the broad knife as much underneath as you can, and then push the fingers underneath until they meet, and thus gradually free the flesh from the skin almost up to the extreme end of the caudal fin (or tail). Insert the point of the large shears underneath, and cut the bone and flesh completely through at a distance of about 1 in. from the last joint of the vertebrae at the tail; this leaves a little flesh attached to be subsequently cleared out.

Leaving this, go now to the head of the fish, and, holding down the skin of the back, which is now flat on the table, run the fingers of the right hand, especially the thumb, right down the whole length of the fish to the tail, in order to loosen all from the underneath to the front of the fish, when the whole will be free up to the two ventral fins, which you may cut away, as it were, with your finger nails, leaving the attached flesh to be trimmed away afterwards. The only part which now holds to the skin is that near the head, as also the under one of the pectoral fins; this latter must be carefully cut away, as the skin is very thin about here, and is rather awkward to get at.

Now let the fingers of both hands come into requisition, and let them meet under the head. Regaining the large knife, with it sever the bone of the head cutting toward you. If this is properly performed, the cutting edge of the knife will touch the gills; be careful in this, that your knife does not slip and go too far into the underneath skin.

Various internal organs will now appear, holding fast to the skin; these must be cut through with the knife, and the effect should be that the whole of the body comes out in a piece. [Footnote: The beginner may, however, for greater facility of handling, cut the body of a large fish into sections, and remove them piece by piece as he progresses.] For larger fish, say one of 20 lb. or more, I recommend splitting the flesh longitudinally or vertically, and getting out each section separately.

The skin now being free from the body, sc.r.a.pe away all the small pieces of flesh that are still adhering inside the skin, down the centre, and around the fins and tail. Those fin-bones (inter-spinous bones) which protrude inside may be cut fairly short with the scissors, and the flesh nicely sc.r.a.ped off from each side. What flesh is left on the tail must be carefully cut away with the aid of the knife, scissors, and shears, care being taken also to free the bone to the very end, and yet not to disturb the scales underneath. A considerable amount of sc.r.a.ping, coaxing, and undercutting will have to be done here.

Having well freed the fins of flesh, turn your attention to the head: make a cut along the side of the under jaw, then cut away the gills at their top and bottom attachments and pull them out, if you do not wish them ultimately to show. When this is done you will become aware that there is still remaining a piece of the vertebra leading up into the head; take the large knife and chop it to the underneath; it will then lift up, exposing what little brain the fish has. Cut this piece off before it enters the palate; and then, by clearing away a little flesh, you come to the eye, which take hold of with your finger and pull out. You will now see several small cavities filled with flesh running up to the sides of the face, cheeks, etc.

The sc.r.a.per or undercutting knife will now come into use, and small pieces of flesh must be laboriously cleared out. After this tool has well loosened and partly cut away the intervening flesh, the fingers may be advantageously used to work with, by being pushed in at the orbits of the eyes, to pull out the loose pieces of flesh. (Note that, in doing this, it is as well to be careful not to cut your fingers with the edges of the small bones of the head, nor with the palatal or lingual teeth.)

The operator must not forget during work to keep the fins well damped, otherwise they rapidly dry and split, as I have before observed.

Running between and from the pectoral fins a thick, fleshy process continues right up underneath the jaw. As the included flesh is contained in a remarkably thin silvery skin, extraordinary care is necessary in freeing this from the flesh, so the knife, the sc.r.a.per, and the fingers will all have to come into play. It is held at the extreme end under the jaw by a thin bone, which, though skinned to its under part, must not be cut away, but left slightly attached.

A little sand at this stage is useful to rub the fingers in, to prevent them slipping, when pulling out small pieces of flesh. The pectoral fins are, of all, the most awkwardly situated to skin out, coming, as they do, at the bottom of the pectoral process, and they must be left with their bones attached, and the flesh be sc.r.a.ped away from between the two fins, and underneath each one, until nothing remains. Carefully attend to the latter part of these instructions, or the final result will be anything but creditable.

Some flesh now lies between two skins along the sides of the fish's gums, between the tongue and the teeth; a hole must be cut inside at the back part of the head below the eye, the crooked sc.r.a.per inserted, and all the flesh dragged out bit by bit. Remember, this is merely a thin membrane, and the slightest awkwardness ruptures it; in large fish, however, the finger may be introduced with advantage, to pull out pieces of flesh. Many taxidermists cut the whole of this away, and replace it with plaster; but if the fish's mouth is to be left open it never looks so well as if done by this method.

Cut under the tongue from the outside, and sc.r.a.pe out the flesh, fill up with putty, and sew up neatly.

To stuff the fish, procure a thick piece of wire somewhat longer than the body, bending one end, to form a large oval-shaped loop, to be afterwards pushed up as a bearer into the head. At some little distance from this (which will be determined by the size of the fish), form a smaller loop, to which, by twisting, attach a short piece of wire a size smaller than the main bearer. At some distance from this--near the tail--form another small loop, to which attach in the same manner another piece of wire. Cut off the end of the main wire, so that when pointed and pushed through it will fall just outside the bone of the tail. It will no doubt be obvious to the reader that this forms an artificial backbone.

The large oval or pear-shaped loop at the one end is intended to be pushed in to support the head, and, in the present method, also to help the formation of the model. The loops and attached wires are to support the body, and also to bolt it to the back of the case when finished. The pointed end is to push into and support the tail.

I should have previously mentioned that this wire backbone should be made before the fish is skinned, as you then have a correct guide to position of bearing wire, and, more important still, a guide to the extreme length of the fish.

Round this wire, wrap paper, glued, or tied with string, until it is a little less than the body of the fish previously taken out; when this is done, cover over with tow well tied on with hemp, until it has arrived at almost the shape and size of the body--being, in fact, the shape of the fish without head or tail--lay this down and thoroughly anoint all parts of the fish. Stuff out the now hollow sides of the face, gums, and the underneath of the throat with putty, of which push some thick pads underneath the root of the tail and all about the fins; next lay a thin skin of putty over the whole of the skin on the inside.

Wet plaster is commonly used for this, but I prefer putty, as not being quite so heavy, and as affording also a more agreeable agent to work with. Another objection to plaster, used in quant.i.ties, is that the heat it evolves in drying has a tendency to make the scales rise.

The next thing to be done is to insert the body. Pushing the sharpened end of the tail wire through the bone of the tail, bring it up on the inside. Now drill a little hole with a straight awl through the bone of the scapular arch, and with a strong needle and thread join that part together. The next hole should be drilled through the uppermost gill-cover, through which pa.s.s the needle; then commence, travelling downward, to sew the skin together, taking care to go inward a sufficient distance from the cut edges with the needle and thread, and yet not allowing the edges of the skin to overlap.

This requires patience, and a little coaxing together of the edges of the skin. As you go on, see where your fish appears out of shape on the upper side, which is a pretty good guide but not always so--for the under, or show side. If the defect is serious, insert a little more putty, followed by a judicious application of tow, which will push the putty to the under side where you most require it.

It is sometimes expedient, after having sewn half-way down, to begin to sew up from the tail end, so as to meet the other st.i.tches. A fine "skin" needle must be used.

After it is entirely st.i.tched up there will still be little places which will require deepening and filling up. A little tow, pushed in any interstices which maybe left between the st.i.tches, will soon rectify this, and also help to shorten the fish, which, in a first attempt, is almost sure to be made too long. This is important, as a well-fed pike should be of some considerable depth, and not a lanky monster like a snake. A little gentle tapping with the handle of the stuffer on the upper surface is sometimes advisable. Get the back almost straight, and, having brought it nearly to your measurements, you may lift the fish by the two wires, but in a very careful manner, to examine the show side, and there note any little defect. Of course, you must constantly alter your position.

Carefully lift the fish off the board, still keeping the sewn side uppermost, and measure the distance between the two upright wires, and make corresponding holes in the board, which push down on the top of the fish, bringing the wires through, and bending their ends down upon the board, so that the specimen may be temporarily rivetted thereto.

Place your hand carefully underneath the head of the fish, and turn the board over. You have now the fish right side uppermost. About the head some little extra stuffing will doubtless be required, and, as the putty will have got a little out of place in the process, it must be replaced, and the head and neck made up nice and square; also look to the tail, and put that in proper shape.

Gently press the skin all over with the hands, deftly patting it with a small piece of smooth flat board to reduce any lumps, and to get the putty to work evenly over the surface. Get some short wires and set the head, with the mouth open as much as you require. One wire may be pushed through the nostril, another may go under the tongue, and a third parallel to it beneath the under-jaw. Arrange the teeth, some of which you will find loose, and, with "needle points," fix into position the gill-covers, which tie over with a little wrapping cotton to keep them from springing up out of place. Next look to the fins, under which put some pieces of peat, covered by stiff card-board, and nicely display them, pinning them down and binding the wrapping cotton over them.

As a last operation, go over the whole of the outside skin with the carbolic formula, No. 15. When this dries, which it will do in the course of an hour or so, varnish the whole upper surface with best clear "paper" varnish, which will have the effect of keeping the skin and scales in position. Let the fish be now put by in a moderately warm situation to thoroughly dry, which will, in the case of a large specimen, take about a month. The skin is then like leather, with no colour in it at all, and must, of course, be subsequently coloured up according to nature, the eyes put in, and mounted in a case with appropriate water-weed; notes on all of which will be found in Chapters XII, XIII, and XIV.

Sawdust or bran may be used for stuffing the fish, which, with the addition of putty and tow to certain parts, will shape it up very fairly. Some taxidermists use tow alone, but this I do not think advisable.

Small fish, up to 2 lb, may, after skinning, have a bent wire inserted as before, and be filled entirely with plaster of Paris, which must be mixed in readiness, and poured in the skin to fill out every part. The cut edges of the skin are now brought together, and the whole fish turned over to show its proper side and rapidly patted into shape, before the plaster has time to set.

Beautiful models of the thicker-skinned fishes maybe made by this method, but rapidity of execution is a sine qua non.

As the student progresses he will find that it will not be necessary in all cases to cut through the scapular arch of the under side to clear out the head. As a proof, I may mention that I have just finished an 18 lb. fish, the head of which was skinned out by this process.

Small pieces of cabinet cork (about one-eighth inch thick) will be found very useful for spreading the fins of small fishes. [Footnote: Notes on repairing fins will be found in Chapter XII.]

In the event of the scales rising from the use of wet plaster or any other cause, "wrapping" cotton, i.e, "darning" cotton, or shoemakers'

hemp, must be bound over them to keep them in place.

Since the foregoing was written I have considerably modified and improved on my former method. Having tried wet "pipe" or modelling clay, with which to stuff the skin, I found that although at first the working and general shape were excellent, yet that, after a few days, the skin shrank and puckered in so abominable a fashion as to render all the labour bestowed upon it of no avail. This was most unfortunately tried upon a twenty pound pike, and so utterly misshapen did it become as to necessitate the relaxing of the specimen--the removal of the clay--and the ultimate shaping up again, by the dry plaster process. [Footnote: Several correspondents have written as to the relaxing of fish skins. This is a very easy process, nothing more being done to the skin than plunging it in water until sufficiently softened.]

This subst.i.tution of dry plaster of Paris (price about 4s. per cwt.) for sand is one of the very best things ever tried. Having skinned your fish in the manner before directed, crowd the head with peat and the face, and parts of the skin inside, and around the fins and tail, with putty. Lay the fish-skin, cut uppermost as before, and ladle in dry plaster, beginning at the tail end; as this fills in, sew up, being careful to shorten the skin, making it deep, and not long and narrow at that part; being particular also to well ram in with a short stick the plaster to fill all out, and to remove ugly creases or depressions. When about a third of the fish is done, fasten your st.i.tches and go on filling in at the head; as you work toward the middle, lift head or tail very gently to peep underneath at the progress you are making.

As the stuffing progresses, deepen the body toward the middle, being careful at the same time to well ram in the plaster. Finally sew up.

Now take another board, a little more than the length and breadth of the specimen, lay it upon the top of the skin and tie it to the board on which the fish is resting; by this means you will be enabled to reverse the fish without cracking the skin or destroying the "set" of it. Untie your boards and the object is before you right side uppermost. It will now be seen if your modelling is true or not; in the latter case, note where all imperfections occur, reverse the fish once more, and ram more dry plaster in between the st.i.tches, or if the latter be sewn up too tightly, cut them where needed, sewing up again when all is satisfactorily accomplished.

The specimen being once again right side uppermost, will appear somewhat flat along the centre, this arises from the plaster accommodating itself to the flat surface of the board. You must now, therefore, pa.s.s a wet cloth several times over the surface of the skin, and proceed to pat it in a light and dexterous manner into a more rounded shape with your hand, or by the aid of a piece of board shaped in the manner of a small flat bat.

The head will require a great deal of attention; it is now flat and, perhaps, drops down upon the board, causing the upper gill cover to open more widely than it should; to obviate this, prop the nose from the underneath by a piece of peat, or by a wedge-shaped piece of wood; the tail may be twisted or thrown up by the same means if required.

The mouth may be kept open as much as desired by pointed wires, one driven through the "nostrils" of the upper jaw, the other wire resting against the teeth inside the lower jaw. The fins being kept damp during the preceding operations, must now be "braced out" by the process heretofore described, and the fish washed, varnished, and dried in the usual manner.

Nothing, you will observe, has been said as to the oval-shaped piece of board previously used inside the pike mounted by the first process.

This is wanted when the fish is thoroughly set and dried; when this takes place, cut the st.i.tches and carefully shake out the plaster. If a large fish, replace this by tow, moderately packed; on this lay an irregularly oval-shaped piece of three-quarter inch board, edges rounded and cut to the shape, and almost the length of the fish.

No wires are needed at the head and the tail (one end of the board running into the head), but only those required to support the specimen in its case. When this board is properly in position inside the fish, nail the edges of the skin on it with tacks of a suitable length. Nothing is now needed to complete the fish but the fixing of the eyes and the colouring of the skin. The eyes are hollow, and fixed by wax (see Chapter XII).

In cases where it is undesirable or inconvenient to mount a fish as a whole, the head only may be treated as a taxidermic object. In this case cut off the head behind the scapular arch, leaving sufficient of the skin of the "neck" for nailing on the block. The head being skinned and preserved, as above directed, is then nailed by the skin of the neck on to a similar block to that shown in Fig. 27. The mouth is set open when required, and the gullet and underneath the tongue filled up and modelled with either clay, cement, or wax, the tongue remodelled or subst.i.tuted by a copy in wax or cement, the composition and application of which is fully explained in Chapter XII.

Notes of the colour of the various parts of your specimen should have been taken previously; in some cases, it is a good plan to make a water-colour drawing of the whole or certain parts of your subject when fresh.

FISH CASTING .--Casting fishes by the plaster of Paris method deserves description, as by this means you are enabled to get correct copies of the shapes and peculiarities of any specimen, from the smallest to the largest. Procure some plaster of Paris of a finer quality--known as "S.F."--than that you have been using previously in modelling mammals, or to fill out the skins of fishes; also some tempered clay--described in Chapter VII.--and some strips of board calculated to the depth, width, and length of the fish you wish to "cast." The specimen having had all the mucus washed from its most perfect side, is laid upon one or two sheets of brown paper or common card-board ("straw-board") covering the work-table. [Footnote: I see that Rowland Ward advises the fish being washed with dilute vitriol (sulphuric acid and water) to remove this mucus.] Decide now as to the att.i.tude you wish it to finally a.s.sume, and taking some of the tempered clay, cut it into thin slices, build it on, as it were, until only the upper half of the fish is exposed, build under the fins--including the caudal one--and spread them out as you wish; the clay will usually stick to their under surfaces, and hold them in position. Should they "run back," stick fine pins in them here and there, being sure, however, to cut of the heads of the latter close to the upper surface of the fins.

It is often advisable to lay thin card-board or strong paper under the fins, if the clay is so soft as to come up over the edges. Having now nicely built in the fish--the upper surface of the clay being carefully smoothed over with a knife-blade and a stiff brush ("Artist's hog-hair, No. 8") dipped in water, surround the clay with pieces of board, set up on edge, so as to form a wooden wall around all; the height of this wall should exceed the greatest depth or thickness of the fish by some inches. Tie these four walls--planed on their inside surface--around with strong string, finally nailing outside all with long "French" nails, driven into the table as a support against pressure from within. Look all over carefully, and if any open s.p.a.ces appear between the clay tablet and the boards, fill in with more clay.

The fish being now ready for casting, take a bowl, which half fill with clean water, into this "dust in" the fine plaster of Paris, in small quant.i.ties at a time, stirring each portion until all is ultimately mixed smoothly and without lumps; when enough is mixed--and the knowledge of quant.i.ty only comes with experience--pour it quickly, yet gently, over the whole surface of the fish; jarring the table with your fist causes the plaster to settle down more evenly, without leaving "blowholes." The plaster should now be an inch or more in thickness over the highest portion of the fish, in order to give sufficient strength for the "return" cast. Should this not be so, mix some more plaster and strengthen the cast, endeavouring to get a flat surface on the top.

After ten minutes, take away the nails and boards, thus allowing more air to get to the ma.s.s of plaster. In half an hour--should the plaster be of good quality--the mould may be raised, turned over, and the fish will tumble out, or may be pulled carefully out without the least trouble. Remove the clay, and on looking into the mould it will, if properly made, show every scale and every line, be free from "blow-holes" or blemishes of casting, besides having a fairly even and square surface surrounding the cavity from whence the fish has been extracted.