42 



condition. This method of preservation is some- 

 what expensive, especially if a good taxidermist is 

 employed. 



In my opinion the best thing to do with 

 a snake is simply to take its skin. Of course it is 

 impossible to get so good an idea of the shape of 

 the snake's body as it is with a bottled specimen, 

 but as the skin retains its colour (in most cases), 

 and the head can be retained in its original shape 

 by the non-extraction of the bones of the skull, one 

 can judge very closely what the appearance of the 

 specimen was when alive. 

 Skinning. The bcst method of skinning a snake is as 



follows : — Take a point above the end of the tail 

 (just where it is about a quarter of an inch wide 

 in the case of a large snake, and at a corresponding 

 proportional point if a small snake) and cut from 

 there, along the centre of the subcaudals to the 

 ventrals. Cut along the centre of the ventrals, tfo 

 ihe juncture of the lower jawbones. Now take the 

 point where the incision was started, and cut 

 through the flesh and muscle, between the 

 vertebrae, so that the end of the tail is connected 

 with the remainder of the snake by only the skin 

 itself. Taking the end of the tail in one hand and 

 the severed mass of flesh and vertebrae in the 

 other, proceed to pull the skin ofl" the latter until 

 the ventrals are reached, where there will be re- 

 sistance. Here you must cut through muscles, 

 and the anal attachments, until the skin is free 

 again, when it will pull off easily until the back of 

 the head is reached. Here separate the head from 

 the skinless body of the snake, by dislocating the 

 first or second vertebra, and cutting through all 

 attachments but the skin. Some of the soft portion 

 of the inside of the head should be scraped away, 

 but the rest will dry up, as will the eyes. 



The advantage of this method of skinning is, 



