MOUNTING MAMMAL HEADS. 



161 



FIG. 33. Skinning a Deer's Ear. 



ear ; but, even supposing 1 that it does not, an equally bad tiling- 

 happens. "When the head is mounted and dry, the ears will be- 

 gin to shrink and shrivel up like a pair of dry autumn leaves, 

 and the beauty of the head is gone for- 

 ever ! In skinning- out the ear cartilage, 

 a sharp scalpel of large size, or a carti- 

 lage-knife, is the best instrument, and it 

 should be held in the fingers precisely 

 as one holds a pen in writing. A good, 

 keen pocket-knife is plenty good enough 

 for all emergencies. 



Begin at the fleshy base of the ear, 

 detach the skin from the cartilage by 

 cutting, and by pulling and pushing the 

 two apart with the thumb and fingers 

 (Fig. 33). Of course you must stop at 

 the edge of the cartilage, and be very 

 careful not to cut through the skin there. 



Keep right on up the back of the ear, gradually turning the 

 ear wrong side out, until you reach the tip (Fig. 34). The ear 



is now wrong side out, and the 

 skin is detached from the back of 

 the cartilage, but still adheres on 

 the inside. Now begin at the tip, 

 where the cartilage is thinnest 

 (Fig. 35), peel it up, and by the 

 same process as before gradually 

 work the inside skin loose with- 

 out cutting fli)-(i(//i the skin at 

 any point, until it is free quite 

 down to the base of the ear, so far 

 within that when the skin is cut 

 straight across and turned right 

 side out again, the point of de- 

 tachment cannot be seen (Fig. 3(0. 



It is likely that the beginner will find this a difficult opera- 

 tion, for it really is so until one has done at least one pair of 

 oars. After that, with a fresh specimen, the process is simple 

 and easy. Save the ear cartilage in your salt-and-alum bath, 

 if 



PIG. 34. The Ear Ila'.f-skinned. 



