[Proceedings United States National Museum, 1885. Appendix. ] 

 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 



UNITED STATES N J^TION J^J^ MIXJSEXJM: 



No. 33. 



NOTES ON THE PREPARATION OF ROUGH SKELETONS, 

 By FREDERIC A. LUCAS. 



These directions for i»reparing rough skeletons have been divided 

 into sections, in order that the collector might turn at once to the por- 

 tion bearing directly on the subject in hand. The general directions for 

 mammals, however, apply with more or less force to all skeletons. 



The extent to which these instructions can be followed will of necessity 

 depend largely on circumstances. It is not to be expected that a collector 

 working in the field would use the same time and care as one residing 

 on the spot or located for some time at one place, but as one well pre- 

 pared, perfect skeleton is worth more than half a dozen mutilated speci- 

 mens, a little time spent in the work of roughing out and packing will 

 be well repaid. If anything must be slighted, let it be the labeling, as 

 it is far more important to have the skeleton itself than to have the 

 facts pertaining to it. 



IDENTIFICATION OF SPECIMENS. 



It is, of course, extremely important to know the correct name of 

 every skeleton, and whenever possible this should be attached to the 

 specimen. 



When the animal is unknown, either the skin, roughly taken off, 

 should be kept, or else another specimen made into a skin, in order that 

 it may serve as a means of identifying the skeleton. 



LABELS. 



Use good manila labels, as thin paper is so apt to be torn or defaced. 



A very good plan is to cut Eoman numbers on a bit of wood and let 



these refer to entries in a note-book. 



679 



