246 MR. KLOSS ON PREPARING MAMMAL SKINS. 



plenty of fluid, less is required alterwards ; and when they are 

 througly preserved thej' may be packed, merely moistened with the 

 preservative liquid, in tins or bottles. 



This method should be used for most bats, especiallj' the 

 leaf-nosed forms and other insectivorous species. Only after several 

 examples of one kind have been collected should one or two be skinned 

 for the sake of their colour, which, in small bats, is not a character of the 

 first importance. 



Fairly large animals should be stabbed with a pen-knife a feu- 

 times in the fleshy parts distant from the body (the upper arms of 

 flying foxes for instance), otherwise the preservative fluid, which works 

 from within the skin, may not have time to penetrate to those portions 

 before they b?gin to decompose. 



Skeletons. 



Remove the skin in a single piece b\' cutting it open fi'oui 

 mouth to vent and slitting up the under side of the limbs from wri.sts 

 and ankles to the median cut : leave the skin on the fore and hind 

 teet of small mammais. Preserve the flat piece obtained for purposes 

 of identification. 



Remove the viscera and roughly clean awaj' the larger masses 

 of flesh from the bones, but do not disjoint any of the latter, except the 

 skull which it may be necessarj^ to separate in order to extract the 

 brain. Soak the bones in water for some hours to remove the blood, 

 and then dry quickly. 



l^bel tlie various separate parts with the sanio number and 

 details. 



Skeletons of large mammals are prepaied in the same way but 

 may have to be broken up for purposes of transport. The skull and 

 limbs can be disjointed from the trunk and the latter ])reparod in two 

 pieces by carefully separating two of the median vertebrae. 



.(cil'KN, NAT. HIST. SOf. .SI AM. 



