160 TAXIDERMY AND ZOOLOGICAL COLLECTING. 



with bark. Cut the ear off close to the skull, leave it for the 

 present just as it is, and go right on down toward the cheeks and 

 throat, as far as you can go. 



4. Begin next at the angle of the Y, on the top of the head, 

 and skin down between the antlers and over the forehead until 

 you reach the eye. Now proceed carefully. In many ruminants 

 there is a deep cavity in the bone directly in front of the ante- 

 rior corner of the eye, called an " eye-pit." The skin lines this 

 eye-pit quite down to the bottom. Do not cut through the skin, 

 but get down to the very bottom of tho eye-pit, and detach the 

 skin from the bone. 



5. Be careful not to cut the corners of the eye, or the edge of 

 the eyelid. Keep close to the bony orbit, and insert the end of 

 one finger in the eye from the outside, to cut against when you 

 sever the thin membrane that surrounds the eyeball. 



6. The nostrils must be cut through so far back from the 

 end of the nose that the cut will not be visible in the open nos- 

 tril when viewed from in front. The cartilaginous septum that 

 divides the nostrils like a partition wall must be split in two, 

 edgewise, from inside, clear down to the very tip of the nose, so 

 that all the flesh can be cut away. Many a fine head is spoiled 

 by having the flesh left in the end of the nose. It seems all 

 right for a short time, but when it dries, it shrinks and shrivels 

 up, and the nose not only loses all character and beauty, but 

 becomes an eye-sore. 



7. The lips must be cut from the jaw close to the bone, and 

 afterward slit open along the inside, laid out flat, and the flesh 

 pared off carefully with a sharp knife. Leave one-half to three- 

 quarters of an inch .of the inner skin of the lip all the way 

 around, so that the form of the lip can be presently reproduced 

 by replacing 1 the flesh with clay. 



8. A deer's ear consists of a big, leaf -shaped piece of cartilage, 

 thick at the base and centre, very thin at the edges and the 

 upper end, and rolled together on itself at the base to form a 

 half cone, like a funnel with one side partly cut away. Over 

 this sheet of cartilage is stretched the skin, with no flesh what- 

 ever between the two. This cartilage can be completely skinned 

 out and replaced with a leaden imitation. It must be skinned 

 out ; for if it is not done, the hair will probably all slip off the 



