After a saurian has dried properly, and has been "machéd," it should be varnished all over with a coat of white varnish and turpentine, to bring out the colors.
If the teeth of an alligator need to be cleaned and whitened, brush them with muriatic acid, washing it off again almost immediately with plenty of clear water.
CHELONIA: _The Turtles._--This group embraces the sea-turtles, having the fore limbs developed as long, flat, triangular flippers, with large head, small under shell, and with head and flippers non-retractile,--the terrapins, soft-shelled turtles, and tortoises. Of the large, sea-going species, our ocean waters produce the huge leather-back or harp-turtle, the loggerhead, next in size, the green turtle and the hawksbill, which last yields the valuable tortoise-shell of commerce. To the taxidermist, a fresh hawksbill to be mounted is a thing of beauty and a joy forever; the smooth and succulent green turtle is also a welcome guest; the big loggerhead is a serious affair, and the huge, lumbering, greasy 800-pound leather-back is a first class calamity. Shun him, unless there is plenty of money behind him. I once had the misfortune to be chief mourner over a leather-back which pulled down 940 pounds dead weight--mostly oil.
vowing that neither gold nor glory (neither of which is yielded by _Sphargis coriacea_) should ever again tempt us to "strike oil" in that manner. The soft and gelatinous shell of that monster dripped clear oil for three months, and actually yielded several gallons.
[Illustration: PLATE XIV. MOUNTING AN ALLIGATOR.--LAST STAGE.]
Fig. 19 shows the underside of a turtle, and the dotted line indicates where the cut has been made in the skin near the posterior edge of the plastron, where the shell bridge that unites the upper with the under shell has been sawn through with a small saw. The process of skinning such a subject has been already described, and the process of mounting is to be carried out on precisely the same general principles as described and illustrated in the mounting of mammals with long hair, with but slight variations.
After the legs and neck have been made with tow, the tow wrapping should be covered with a quarter of an inch of soft clay, so the skin can afterward be modeled down upon it, either smoothly or wrinkled, as in life. The body should be stuffed with straw to keep the shell from collapsing while drying. The divided portions of the shell must then be joined and wired together firmly with soft brass wires passed through small holes, as shown in the figure. Of course, the cuts in the skin must be sewn up neatly but firmly.