CONSERVATION OF MAMMALS 183 



panied by notes on the exact locality or origin would add much 

 to our knowledge and would be of the greatest interest to scien- 

 tists and institutions. A field catalogue with this information 

 and numbers corresponding to the data attached to the speci- 

 mens would serve to keep this important material for future 

 reference. Collecting can be both interesting and worthwhile, 

 but of course should not be done if a species is so near extinc- 

 tion that this will increase the jeopardy. 



In the tropics the heat and humidity cause the hair to "slip" 

 or come off with the epidermis of the skin unless the mammal 

 is skinned shortly after death. Larger mammals should be slit 

 from the breast to the end of the tail ; other cuts are made from 

 the sole of the feet or just above the hoofs to meet the median 

 cut. Horned mammals require an additional cut from the neck 

 to between the horns and then a cut from this line, on each side, 

 to the horns and around them. For best results the ear carti- 

 lage must be skinned out and the toe-bones as far as the claw 

 or hoof, and the flesh that is closely attached to the skin should 

 be cut away. Salt should then be thoroughly rubbed into the 

 skin on the flesh side and the skin rolled up overnight. It should 

 then be spread out in the shade to dry. In very wet weather 

 and climates the salt will keep taking up water from the air and 

 the skin will not dry ; in this case, after a second thorough rub- 

 bing with salt and leaving over a second night, wash the skin 

 in fresh water and dry under shelter. A fire may help, but 

 scorching the skin must be avoided. 



The skull should be carefully disjointed from the neck, the 

 flesh roughly trimmed off and the brain removed through the 

 hole at the rear end (J or amen magnum). The skull should be 

 dried as thoroughly as possible. Smoking, salting, or covering 

 it with pepper may help keep maggots out ; they injure the bone, 

 especially of small skulls. Skins and skulls of the same indi- 

 vidual should have identical numbers. 



Smaller mammals may be cased, that is, cut from heel to heel 

 across the underside and the skin turned inside out like a glove, 



