10. Mr. Lucas has two methods for attaching a small skull to the skeleton. One is to cut a piece of cork to fit snugly in the occipital hole of the skull (foramen magnum), then pierce a hole through its centre, and fit it tightly on the projecting end of the vertebral wire, close up to the first cervical vertebra (the axis). The cork thus becomes stationary, and the skull may be put in place and removed at will.
The other method is to place the skull exactly in position on the skeleton, fitting it closely to the axis. Then drill a small hole through each side of the axis in such a manner that in its passage from top to bottom the drill will also pass through the occipital condyle of the skull. By fitting a wire through each of these holes the skull will be held fast in position so long as the skeleton remains in its place, right side up. If the skeleton is to be packed for shipment, the skull (unless it be very small and light) must be taken off, wrapped, and packed separately for safety in transit.
[a]Fig. 69.]—Skeleton of a Bat, as exhibited by Mr. Lucas.
11. If any bones have been broken, they must now be repaired, either by gluing them together, or by joining with a short wire fitted into the axis of each piece, and the missing particles of bone may be restored by a filling of best sinew glue mixed with plaster Paris into a paste, and applied hot, so that it will adhere. As it cools it can be shaped properly, and when thoroughly dry and hard, its surface must be dressed down with a fine file and sand-paper until the form of the bone is once more perfect. This is work which very often calls for considerable skill in the operator, but the process itself is a very simple one.
If ligaments are missing and a small bone is completely detached, it should be put on as follows: Procure some fine cotton batting, cut it up very finely with the scissors, then apply some hot glue to the joint, lay a bit of clipped cotton upon it, and work it into the glue so that when dry it will form a false ligament and hold the bone firmly in its place without attracting any attention to the fact that the ligament has been made for the occasion.
12. Finally, transfer each skeleton to its permanent pedestal, which we will assume has been prepared while the specimen has been drying. Mr. Lucas puts all his small skeletons on handsome ebonized pedestals, which are the thing par excellence. The limbs for his climbing animals, and the thin, black boards for his bat skeletons are also ebonized. The illustration on page 291 (Fig. 69) shows one of his bat skeletons complete, as it stands in its case, bearing a label of black letters on an olive-gray card, with no ornamentation. In the final mounting the standards are put in place, and the upper end of each fitted fast to the backbone. Each toe is fixed firmly in its place, and held down by the bent-over end of a headless pin, or by having a pin put through it, and cut off close down to the bone.
[a]Fig. 70.]—Skeleton of a Bird Mounted and Drying.
Cautions and Exceptions.—It is only the tiny skeletons, such as mice, shrews, small squirrels, and the like, that can safely be mounted without standards. To be sure, a large cat skeleton can be mounted on its own legs, without any standards, and so can a man drink a pint of bad whiskey; but in each case the falling from grace will be in about the same degree, if not the same in kind also. In long-continued moist weather, ligaments are apt to soften and let large unsupported skeletons come down, without neatness, but plenty of despatch.