

PREPARING AND STUFFING ANIMALS. 
scalpel, thus leaving the plastron free, and withdrawing all the 
intestines from the place. The skin is now removed from 
the other members, which are furnished with a paw so hard 
that it is necessary to cut it open from top to bottom in 
order to remove the fleshy parts beneath the shell. With re- 
gard to the head, the skin need not be completely inverted, 
because the plates or scales upon it can be detached from the 
superficies; it is only necessary, therefore, to scoop out the eyes 
without damaging the orbits and the brain, enduing all the 
parts thoroughly with arsenical paste before covering them 
with the tow on which the shell is to be replaced. The 
breastplate thus restored is held in its place by means of iron 
wire properly inserted. 
Some serpents are so large that it is necessary to skin them in 
order to their preservation. This is sometimes done by making 
a cut round the neck immediately behind the head, raising 
the edge of the skin round the incision, and drawing the body 
through it, thus turning the skin inside out, a process which 
might, in some instances, be attended with danger as well as 
difficulty. A more convenient process is to make a longitudinal 
incision into the belly, but a little on one side, taking care to 
avoid damaging the large scales by cutting on one side of 
them. ‘This done, the skin is raised by means of the scalpel, 
the head separated from the body at its last vertebra, 
leaving the head attached to the skin. When entirely sepa- 
rated from the vertebrae, the brain removed, and the cavity 
cleaned out, cover the inside of the skin with a coating of 
arsenical paste, or wash it with spirit of turpentine and sew it 
up neatly, placing a layer of cotton-wool under the seam, 
taking care not to catch it up with the thread so as to prevent 
the stuffing from showing itself through the interstices. This 
done, fill it with dry sand, or, better still, with sawdust or 
bran. It is important in all instances to preserve the head 
of serpents as perfect as possible, as on its construction much 
of the zoological character of the animal depends. 

PRESERVING AND SKINNING FISHES. 
The same means applied to serpents may be employed for 
preserving fishes; but before putting it into practice the fish 
must be washed in a mucilage which prepares them for the 
spirit in which they are to be preserved. This is best done by 
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