PREPARING SKINS OF MAMMALS. 19 



5. — Lay the skin on a board or piece of cork, draw out the fore 

 paws forwards, and pin them down to the board by a pin passed 

 boldly through the middle of the paw. Take care that they are 

 pinned close in to the sides of the neck or head, in order to prevent 

 their claws catching in other skins w^hen all are packed together in 

 boxes. Similarly, pin back, soles doimiivards, the hind feet by the 

 sides of the tail. It is of considerable importance that neither fore 

 nor hind feet should project laterally outwards, nor should curl up 

 in drying, and that the fingers and toes should be kept close together 

 and parallel, not spread out sideways. 



6. — As the skin dries, try to get the face to assume as natural 

 a shape as possible. The ears in Foxes, Hares, Eats, and Mice may 

 be neatly folded backwards; in Bats, Squirrels, and other animals 

 they should stand up in an erect position. 



7. — Disarticulate the skull from the trunk, label it with your 

 initials and the corresponding number to that on the skin, and then 

 let it dry. In a dry climate this may be done almost without any 

 cleaning ; and even in a wet one, if the skull be dropped into some 

 sawdust artificially dried, little cleaning need be done : in any case 

 the tongue should always be left in to protect the palate-bones. 

 In a general way try to do as little to the skull as the climate will 

 admit of — but, of course, it must not be allowed to become rotten. 

 Drying naturally or artificially is the best, and arsenic or other 

 chemicals should not be put on it, insects being kept off by the 

 use of naphthaline or other disinfectant. Fly-blown skulls should 

 not be dropped into the same box with other drying skulls, nor 

 should fresh skulls be shut into tightly closed boxes. A convenient 

 way to dry the skulls is to place them immediately they are taken 

 out and labelled into a muslin bag with a little sawdust, and then 

 to hang the bag in the air, sun, or before the fire, so as to dry them 

 without exposing them to the attacks of blow-flies. 



8. — Pack the skins up carefully in small boxes when they are dry, 

 in layers, with enough wool between them to prevent their shaking 

 about. Do not roll them up separately in paper. 



It is a good plan to have with you an ordinary cork-lined insect- 

 box, in which the pieces of cork can be pinned for travelling. When 

 the skins are partly dry, they can be taken off the separate pieces 



