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University Daily Kansan Tuesday. April 8, 1958
THE CAT'S WHISKERS—George Young, taxidermist for the Museum of Natural History, attaches modeling clay to a skeleton to form the body of a specimen of the cat family. The work takes lots of patience (see below).
Taxidermist Needs Skill, Patience
By DIANA JOHNS (Of The Daily Kansan Staff)
Taxidermy, the art of preparing and preserving the skins of animals and stuffing and mounting them in lifelike form, calls for skillful and painstaking work. At KU, this work is done on the top floor of the Museum of Natural History.
"There is a big difference between mounting small and large animals." George Young, taxidermist for the museum, said.
"A small animal is skinned, and' the legbones are left attached to the skin. An artificial body, made of excelsior, is wrapped over wire to the approximate size of the carcass," he said.
The body is modeled into a position decided on ahead of time. Muscles are modeled from tow or jute (hemp fibers) and wrapped with thread to hold them in place.
An artificial skull is made of clay, and glass eyes are put in place before the skin is pulled over the skull and the artificial body.
"The evelids, nose, etc. are painted a natural color, and the small animal mount is complete." Mr. Young said.
"Large animals are an entirely different story," he said. "When a large animal is collected in the field, its measurements are taken both before and after is has been skinned." he said.
To mount a large animal, the skin is usually tanned, and the skeleton is cleaned and set up in the desired position. Mr. Young said.
The skeleton is used as a frame over which modeling clay is used to make a model of the carcass, he said. The skin is then fitted to this model.
When the clay model is finished a plaster mold is made. This mold consists of three layers of burlap, each layer of which has been dipped
KU Jazz Group To Play At Emporia
The Don Conard quintette, campus jazz band, will be guest performers today at a concert sponsored by the student council of Kansas State Teachers College at Emporia.
The "Jazz For Spring" concert, with two Emporia bands, will be broadcast over radio station KUOE, Emporia. The proceeds from the concert will be used for a music scholarship.
in plaster. When the mold is removed the tanned skin is glued and sewn over the plaster model, Mr Young said.
There is very little difference in the way birds and small animals are mounted, he said.
"For fish, if we want to use the skin, a two-piece plaster mold is made before skinning," Mr. Young said. "The mold is removed, and the fish is skinned by making an incision in the back side of the fish where it will not show."
From this mold a cast is made of either paper mache or burlap and plaster, over which the fish skin is glued and sewn. The fish skin loses its color and must be painted to give it a natural appearance under artificial light. Mr. Young said.
Book Collection Finalists Named
Seven finalists were chosen in the second annual Taylor student book collection contest which ended March 31. Judges will meet April 16 to choose the two best collections.
MAUPINTOURS/1958
ADVENTUREI EDUCATIONI
TRAVEL! SUMMER 1958I
The finalists and the collections they entered are Robert M. Worcester, Kansas City, Kan. special student, politics and government; Kent H. Wilson, Fort Worth, Texas, entomology; Robert L. Packard, Lawrence, North American mammalogy; Barbara Solomon, Lawrence, poetry and drama; E. Bruce Holmes, Lawrence, vertebrate evolution. All are graduate students.
Carlos M. Campuzano, Kansas City, Mo. senior, travel in Spain, Gilbert Cuthbertson, Leavenworth junior, Civil War.
Robert L. Quinsey, assistant director of Watson Library and contest chairman, said 14 bibliographies were submitted. He said variety in the collections is comparable to last year.
Mr. Quinsey and Earl Farley, cataloger in the preparations departments, chose the finalists. The seven students will bring their collections to the library today.
The judges will be Jerome Cushman of the Salina Public Library, Dr. C. Frederick Kittle of the KU Medical Center and John Edward Hicks of the Kansas City Star.
The contest is sponsored by Mrs. Elizabeth Taylor, Kansas City, Mo. book collector.
Mr. Quinsey said the size, worth, age and rarity of the books will not be of primary importance. He said the contest is intended to stimulate book collecting and will be judged on the content and quality as it reflects the student's interest.
Join a special American-directed, student/takeover tour through the Soviet Union. Choose from six departure dates... travel w/eldom-visited cruise such as Kiev, the Ukraine, Odessa, Sask., Tolstil, of Soviet Georgia, Kharkov.
enjoy a Volga River or Black Sea cruise... see Leningrad and Moscow, visit Warsaw Prague and the Brussels (World) plus extensions to the European Capitals.
The prize winning collections will be displayed either in the library or the Kansas Union.
Inclusive rate from $1369, from New York. Reservations limited, apply now for sufficient time to secure Russian visa. Write today for descriptive folder. See your travel agent or
Data on star observations are provided to the world's timekeepers,survevors,and map makers by five observatories of the International Latitude Service.
Even if there were no cherry blossoms blooming in Washington, D. C. for the annual Cherry Blossom Festival, the atmosphere was gay and lively for Sharon Lynch, Salina senior, who represented Kansas at the annual celebration in the nation's capital.
Celebrities Attend Cherry Festival
, who was personally*
Sharon, who was personally asked by Sen. Frank Carlson to represent Kansas, was one of 53 princesses who represented the states and territories at the festival.
The Kansas State Society, of which Sen. Carlson is president, honored Sharon with a dance the night of her arrival in Washington.
"Meeting Vice President Richard Nixon was probably the most exciting thing about my whole trip; but just being in Washington for such an elaborate round of parties was a wonderful experience." Miss Lynch said.
That same day the princesses were served tea at the home of Amoassador and Mrs. Asakai, and presented Japanese fans. Sharon was later escorted by Sen. Carlson to a luncheon and fashion show at which Mrs. Mamie Eisenhower and Mrs. Richard Nixon were present.
Opening ceremonies for the Festival officially began Wednesday, March 28, with the traditional lighting of the Japanese lantern on the Potomac River by Japanese Ambassador Koehira Asakai. The lightening commemorates the gift to the United States by Japan of the famous cherry trees which decorate the tidal basin near Jefferson's Monument.
At the Cherry Blossom Festival Ball Friday, March 28, the queen was chosen by spinning a wheel of fortune with each state and territory designated on the wheel. Mrs. Nixon spun the wheel, which stopped incidentally, at Maine—right next to Kansas.
The princesses were presented individually in a pageant at the tidal basin Saturday morning, March 29, and the queen was crowned with a traditional $100,000 pearl crown by William Bendix, movie star and
master of ceremonies
A 4-hour televised parade was held Saturday night with illuminated floats, 35 bands, drill teams and majorttes, comedy and mounted units, and led by grand marshall Michael Ansara, television star who plays Cochise. Each of the princesses and the queen rode in special cars.
On Sunday a repeat of the Cherry Blossom pageant was staged again at the tidal basin, with the queen being crowned by Ambassador Asakai.
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17
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