TREATMENT OF THE SKINS OF SMALL MAMMALS. 25 



and the rump when the tail hangs or is bent down at an angle 

 of forty-five degrees to the spinal column. This point is always 

 fixed and constant, and can be quickly and accurately determined 

 by bending the tail down and sticking a pin or awl at the angle. 

 To measure an animal like a monkey on the top of the tail is to 

 attempt the location of a point which can rarely be determined 

 twice alike. For this reason I have alwaj^s taken this measure- 

 ment in both large and small mammals underneath the tail. 



2. Length of tail, from root to end of vertebrae. 



3. Length of It ind foot. Bend the heel at a right angle, and 

 measure from the outer extremity of the angle to the tip end 

 of the longest toe, including the nail. 



4. Height at shoulders, if the animal bo not too small. To take 

 this, lay the animal on its right side, then, as nearly as you can, 

 place the right leg and foot in the position they would assume 

 if the animal were standing erect (the sole of the foot must be 

 parallel to the axis of the body), and measure in a straight line 

 from the bottom of the heel to the top of the shoulders. Re- 

 cord, also, 



5. The color of the eyes, and the other soft parts. 



6. Weight, in certain cases. 



Do not forget what has been said in Chapter LTI. about 

 outlines and sketches. On one corner of the outline-sheet w<> 

 record the name of the specimen, locality, date, sex, measure- 

 ments, color of eyes, lips, feet, etc. It takes but a few moments' 

 time, and the result is a complete and accurate record of what 

 the animal was in the flesh. These sheets are numbered and 

 filed away, the skin is numbered and put in the bath, and even 

 though it be not until five years later that we are ready to 

 mount it, we can tell as accurately what the animal was like as 

 if it had been received only the previous day. If the specimen 

 is a baboon, for example, with several colors on its face, it was 

 for years my practice to make a rough sketch of the face and 

 put upon it the various colors that belong there, in oil-colors, 

 usually, though sometimes with water-colors. It was also my 

 custom to spend half an hour or so in taking a mould, and 

 making a quick cast in plaster Paris of the face of every 

 monkey or baboon which came to me, unless I already had one 

 which would answer as a model to copy in finishing the face. 



