no 



THE MUSEUM. 



emphasize the following. Many char- 

 acters can be shown only by perfectly ' 

 prepared material. 



The student will soon want to collect 

 from places distant to his immediate 

 locality. One of the best ways to do 

 this is by means of exchange. He will 

 at once have to deal with the fastidious 

 collector and the only way to do busi- 

 ness with that gentleman is to send 

 him good specimens. 



A nicely prepared specimen will al- 

 ways be more carefully handled. It 

 will be apt to be preserved for a long- 

 time and may continue to be useful 

 long after the collector has ceased to 

 be. 



It is generally conceded that a skin 

 is much more useful and convenient for 

 study, than is a mounted specimen. 

 A skin can be made in much less time, 

 can be stored in a smaller space, can 

 be examined more readily and is more 

 easily packed for shipment. However 

 this may be a poorly mounted specimen 

 is much worse than a good skin. Most 

 of us can learn to make a presentable 

 skin, while but few of us will become 

 expert taxidermists. 



That a skin shall be first class, several 

 points in its preparation must be ob- 

 served. 



First of all, it nuist be thoroughly 

 cured and well poisoned. 



It must be accompanied by the skull. 



A label must be attached to it, which, 

 among other things must bear the 

 record of certain carefully made meas- 

 urements. 



It must be well made, shapely and 

 clean. 



When you catch your mammal do it 

 in such a way that the skull bones and 

 teeth will not be injured.'"'' 



It is best not to beirin work on the 



specimen until it has lost its animal 

 heat. Stretch the body out, move the 

 legs and body to get rid of the stiffness, 

 and take the measurement as indi- 

 cated farther on. Recoid the meas- 

 urements in millimeters, not in inches. 



The first measurement is the length 

 This is from the tip of the nose co the 

 end of the last tail vertebra. (Length 

 of body and tail. ) Stick a pin in the 

 table. Let the nose touch it. Stretch 

 out the tail and stick another pin in 

 the table just at the end of the tail 

 vertebra. Measure the distancs be- 

 tween the pins. 



The second measurement is that of 

 the tail. Lay the animal on its ven- 

 tral surface. Raise the tail vertical to 

 the body. Measure from the base of 

 the tail to the tip of the last tail verte- 

 bra. A pair of dividers will be found 

 necessary. 



The third measurement is that of 

 the leg-. With the dividers measure 

 the distance on the leg from the end 

 of the "heel" (calcaueum) to the tip 

 of the longest claw. 



The fourth measurement is that of 

 the car. With the dividers get the 

 distance from the tip to the crown of 

 the head. The hairs are not to be 

 measured. Now, when you have done 

 the measuring and noted the sex you 

 are read}' to write the lable. The 

 lable may be of any size and shape to 

 please your fancy. Only don't have 

 it large enough to wrap the specimen 

 in. Make it of strong paper and write 

 it with waterproof India ink. The la- 

 ble should bear your name, the name 



* For future papers, we wish to reserve our 

 notes on various modes of capturinp: small 

 inaninials. In llic ini-antinui \sc shall lie i)le- 

 ased to read any notes on traps or other con- 

 trivances that would be of use to theeollector. 

 Notes on halts or on the food of certain mam- 

 mals would bo very interesting. 



