68 TAXIDERMY AND ZOOLOGICAL COLLECTING. 



head from the neck at the first cervical vertebra without cut- 

 ting the skin. Skin out the tongue and remove the flesh from 

 the palatal apertures and various cavities of the head. Skin 

 each leg by turning the skin wrong side out until the toes are 

 reached. Leave all the bones of each leg attached to each 

 other and to the skin itself at the toes, but cut away the flesh 

 carefully, the same as in skeletonizing. Remove from the skin 

 as much as possible of the. flesh which will be found adhering 

 to it. When the skin is thoroughly clean, immerse it in a 

 strong bath of salt and water, and allow it to remain twenty- 

 four to thirty hours. Then take it out, rub the inside and the 

 leg bones thoroughly with strong arsenical soap, after which 

 apply powdered alum liberally over the inner surface, so that 

 not a single spot is missed. Then hang the skin up by the 

 head (no danger of stretching in this case), and allow it to dry 

 in the wind and shade. "When almost hard and stiff, take it 

 down and fold it up as carefully as if it were a Sunday coat, so 

 that it can be packed in a box of ordinary dimensions. 



Of course small crocodiles, and the skins of larger ones not 

 exceeding six feet in length, can best be preserved in alcohol, 

 as already described for lizards. Full instructions for " rough- 

 ing out " skeletons will be found in Chapter XXXVII. I will 

 only add to this paragraph the suggestion that of all the ob- 

 jects that a collector can gather, nothing so well repays in 

 every way the time and labor spent upon them as a few large, 

 well-made, and sufficiently hideous skins of crocodilians. They 

 are at once big, ugly, awe-inspiring, and marketable. The gen- 

 eral public is very fond of horrible animals from far-distant 

 countries, and I always gave it crocodiles galore. 



CHELONIA : Turtles. Go where you will in the warm regions 

 of the earth, you are almost certain to find representatives of 

 this order. In the tropics the species are very numerous, 

 highly interesting, and often of commercial vahie. Many a 

 time your own hunger will be appeased by a tender steak of 

 green turtle or loggerhead, or a terrapin stew, or a " soft-shell" 

 fried in batter, or a peck of terrapin eggs dug out of the sand, 

 fresh and otherwise. The rare and hideous mata-mata of South 

 America will make you a good meal, and afterward bring you in 

 $25 in hard cash. The hawksbill, with the valuable " tortoise- 



