488 PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 
and flattened out so that the flesh in them can be pared off. Do not 
cut off the roots of*the whiskers, or they will fall out. Pare away the 
membrane which adheres to the inside of the eye- 
- ¥ lids and turn the ear wrong side out at the base 
* in order to cut away the flesh around it. 
If the ears have hair upon them they must 
be Skinned up from the inside and turned wrong 
side out quite to the tip, in order to separate the outside skin, which 
holds the hair, from the cartilage which supports the ear. 
To clean the skull, cut the flesh all off the cranium, cut out the eyes 
and tongue, and with a bent wire, or aspoon-handle bent up at the end, 
draw out the brain through the occipital opening at the back of the skull. 
By this time the skin will most surely have become bloody in several 
places, and before applying any preservative it must be washed per- 
JSectly clean. Blood left upon the hair imparts to it a lasting stain, and 
usually causes the hair to come off in mounting. 
SKINNING LARGE MAMMALS. 
The principal difference between the manner of skinning a small ter- 
restrial quadruped and a large one, like a bear, deer, or buffalo, is that 
the skin of cout leg is slit open 
from the bottom of the foot up 
the back of the leg nearly the 
first joint and from thence up 
the inside of the leg, following 
to the lines of the accompanying 
figure, until it meets the opening 
cut which has been made along 
the center of the body. In pre- 
paring a skin as large as that of 
a buffalo or large polar bear, it 
is best to cut off the leg bones at 
the first joint above the foot, tie 
them up in a 
bundle with 
theskull,and 
forward them with the skin, properly labeled. 
In skinning the head of an animal having horns, 
it is necessary to make an opening at the back or 
the neck. Make the cuts as shown by the dotted 4 
lines of the accompanying figure, cut completely 
around each horn at the base, and skin the head by 
working downward over the forehead and the cheeks. The head skin 
of a large mammal is the most difficult part to remove and preserve 
successfully, and therefore the greatest care is necessary in its prepa- 
ration. 
