4 NATURALISTS' ASSISTANT. 



tebrates should be cut open, care being taken not to injure 

 the viscera. This allows the alcohol to readily penetrate the 

 interior. It is also well to remove a portion of the skull, so 

 that the preservative fluid can have access to the brain. Al- 

 coholic specimens of foreign vertebrates thus prepared are 

 a great desideratum in all museums, and especially in those 

 where it is realized that science is more than skin deep, and 

 consists of more than a lot of scientific names. 



The art of skinning mammals and birds may be more 

 readily learned by seeing another perform the operation than 

 from pages of description. For those who do not have an 

 opportunity of learning the methods employed by observation, 

 the following directions which are modified from those given 

 in Davies' " Naturalist's Guide " (by the way a very valuable 

 little work) may prove of use. 



MAMMALS. 



The cotton wool is first removed from the nostrils, mouth, 

 anus and wounds and replaced by fresh plugs. The animal 

 is then laid on its back, its legs pressed out and the fur 

 parted on the median line of the ventral surface. An incision 

 is then made through the skin, at the posterior portion of the 

 abdomen, care being taken to cut the skin only and not the 

 underlying muscles, this incision to be continued forward to 

 near the neck. With the left hand the skin is then raised 

 first on one side and then on the other, and at the same time 

 separated from the adjacent muscles with the handle of the 

 scalpel, an ivory paper knife or other blunt instrument held in 



